UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


T»  J<>. 


t       •  *      *          *         V 

(.  -*>?-?> 


HISTORY 


CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 


ANCIENT    INCA   SEAT   OF  JUSTICE. 


HISTORY 


CONQUEST  OF  PERU 


BY   WILLIAM    H.    PRESCOTT 


''Congestse  cumulantur  opes,  orbisque  rapinas 
Accipit." 

CLAUDIAN,  In  Ruf.,  lib.  i.  v.  194. 

''So  color  de  religion 
Van  i  buscar  plata  y  oro 
Del  encubierto  tescro." 

LOPE  DE  VEGA,  El  Nuevo  Mundo,  Jorn.  i. 


EDITED  BY  JOHN  FOSTER  KIRK 


VOLUME  I. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

}.   B.   LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY. 


115547 


\ 


Copyright,  1847, 
BY  WILLIAM  H.  PRESCOTT 

Copyright,  1874, 
BY  J.  B.  L1PPINCOTT  &  CO. 

Copyright,  1874. 
BY  WILLIAM  G.  PRESCOTT 


\-a 
•     ih 

V.  I 

PREFACE. 


THE  most  brilliant  passages  in  the  history  of  Spanish 
adventure  in  the  New  World  are  undoubtedly  afforded 
by  the  conquests  of  Mexico  and  Peru, — the  two  states 
which  combined  with  the  largest  extent  of  empire  a 
refined  social  polity  and  considerable  progress  in  the 
arts  of  civilization.  Indeed,  so  prominently  do  they 
stand  out  on  the  great  canvas  of  history  that  the  name 
of  the  one,  notwithstanding  the  contrast  they  exhibit 
in  their  respective  institutions,  most  naturally  suggests 
that  of  the  other ;  and  when  I  sent  to  Spain  to  collect 
materials  for  an  account  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  I 
included  in  my.  researches  those  relating  to  the  Conquest 
of  Peru. 

The  larger  part  of  the  documents,  in  both  cases,  was 
obtained  from  the  same  great  repository, — the  archives 
of  the  Royal  Academy  of  History  at  Madrid ;  a  body 
specially  intrusted  with  the  preservation  of  whatever 
may  serve  to  illustrate  the  Spanish  colonial  annals.  The 
richest  portion  of  its  collection  is  probably  that  fur- 
nished by  the  papers  of  Mufioz.  This  eminent  scholar, 
the  historiographer  of  the  Indies,  employed  nearly  fifty 
years  of  his  life  in  amassing  materials  for  a  history  of 
Spanish  discovery  and  conquest  in  America.  For  this, 
as  he  acted  under  the  authority  of  the  government, 

A*  (V) 


PREFACE. 

VI 

every  facility  was  afforded  him  ;  and  public  offices  and 
private  depositories,  in  all  the  principal  cities  < 
empire,  both  at  home  and  throughout  the  wide  extent 
Tits  colonial  possessions,  were  freely  opened  to  hi 
inspection      The  result  was  a  magnificent  collection  of 
Zuscripts,  many  of  which  he  patiently  tr»»W 
with  his  own  hand.     But  he  did  not  live  to  reap  the 
Trl  of  his  persevering  industry.     The  first  votaejjf 
his  work,  relating  to  the  voyages  of  Columbus,  * 
scarcely  finished  when  he  died;  and  his  manuscripts, 
at  le  J  that  portion  of  them  which  have  reference  to 
Mexico  and  Peru,  were  destined  to  serve  the  uses  ot 
atother,  an  inhabitant  of  that  New  World  to  which 

Bother  scholar,  to  whose  literary  stores  I  am  largely 
•indebted,  is  Don  Martin  Fernandez  de  Navarrete :   la 
Director  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  History, 
the  greater  part  of  his  long  life  he  was  employed  in 
assembling  original  documents  to  illustrate  the  colonial 
annals.     Many  of  these  have  been  inc6rporated  i 
great  work,  «  Coleccion  de  los  Viages  y  Descubnrm- 
entos  "  which,  although  far  from  being  completed  a 
the  original  plan  of 'its  author,  is  of  inestimable  service 
to  the  historian.     In  following  down  the  track  of  dis- 
covery  Navarrete  turned  aside  from  the  conquests  of 
Mexico  and  Peru,  to  exhibit  the  voyages  of  his  coun- 
trymen in  the  Indian  seas.     His  manuscripts  relal 
to  the  two  former  countries  he  courteously  allowed  t 
be  copied  for  me.     Some  of  them  have  since  appearec 
in  print,  under  the  auspices  of  his  learned  coadjutors, 
Salva  and  Baranda,  associated  with  him  in  the  Acader 
but  the  documents  placed  in  my  hands  formed  a  n 


PREFACE.  Vii 

important  contribution  to  my  materials  for  the  present 
history. 

The  death  of  this  illustrious  man,  which  occurred 
some  time  after  the  present  work  was  begun,  has  left  a 
void  in  his  country  not  easy  to  be  filled ;  for  he  was 
zealously  devoted  to  letters,  and  few  have  done  more 
to  extend  the  knowledge  of  her  colonial  history.  Far 
from  an  exclusive  solicitude  for  his  own  literary  pro- 
jects, he  was  ever  ready  to  extend  his  sympathy  and 
assistance  to  those  of  others.  His  reputation  as  a 
scholar  was  enhanced  by  the  higher  qualities  which  he 
possessed  as  a  man, — by  his  benevolence,  his  simplicity 
of  manners,  and  unsullied  moral  worth.  My  own  obli- 
gations to  him  are  large ;  for  from  the  publication  of 
my  first  historical  work,  down  to  the  last  week  of  his 
life,  I  have  constantly  received  proofs  from  him  of  his 
hearty  and  most  efficient  interest  in  the  prosecution  of 
my  historical  labors ;  and  I  now  the  more  willingly  pay 
this  well-merited  tribute  to  his  deserts,  that  it  must  be 
exempt  from  all  suspicion  of  flattery. 

In  the  list  of  those  to  whom  I  have  been  indebted 
for  materials  I  must  also  include  the  name  of  M.  Ter- 
naux-Compans,  so  well  known  by  his  faithful  and  elegant 
French  versions  of  the  Mufioz  manuscripts ;  and  that  of 
my  friend  Don  Pascual  de  Gayangos,  who,  under  the 
modest  dress  of  translation,  has  furnished  a  most  acute 
and  learned  commentary  on  Spanish- Arabian  history, — 
securing  for  himself  the  foremost  rank  in  that  difficult 
department  of  letters,  which  has  been  illumined  by  the 
labors  of  a  Masdeu,  a  Casiri,  and  a  Conde. 

To  the  materials  derived  from  these  sources  I  have 
added  some  manuscripts  of  an  important  character  from 


viii  PREFACE. 

the  library  of  the  Escorial.  These,  which  chiefly  relate 
to  the  ancient  institutions  of  Peru,  formed  part  of  the 
^--splendid  collection  of  Lord  Kingsborough,  which  has 
unfortunately  shared  the  lot  of  most  literary  collections, 
and  been  dispersed,  since  the  death  of  its  noble  author. 
For  these  I  am  indebted  to  that  industrious  bibliogra- 
pher, Mr.  O.  Rich,  now  resident  in  London.  Lastly, 
I  must  not  omit  to  mention  my  obligations,  in  another 
way,  to  my  friend  Charles  Folsom,  Esq.,  the  learned 
librarian  of  the  Boston  Athenseum,  whose  minute  ac- 
quaintance with  the  grammatical  structure  and  the  true 
idiom  of  our  English  tongue  has  enabled  me  to  correct 
many  inaccuracies  into  which  I  had  fallen  in  the  com- 
position both  of  this  and  of  my  former  works. 

From  these  different  quarters  I  have  accumulated  a 
large  amount  of  manuscripts,  of  the  most  various  char- 
acter and  from  the  most  authentic  sources ;  royal  grants 
and  ordinances,  instructions  of  the  court,  letters  of 
the  emperor  to  the  great  colonial  officers,  municipal 
records,  personal  diaries  and  memoranda,  and  a  mass 
of  private  correspondence  of  the  principal  actors  in 
this  turbulent  drama.  Perhaps  it  was  the  turbulent 
state  of  the  country  which  led  to  a  more  frequent  corre- 
spondence between  the  government  at  home  and  the 
colonial  officers.  But,  whatever  be  the  cause,  the  col- 
lection of  manuscript  materials  in  reference  to  Peru  is 
fuller  and  more  complete  than  that  which  relates  to 
Mexico;  so  that, there  is  scarcely  a  nook  or  corner  so 
obscure,  in  the  path  of  the  adventurer,  that  some  light 
has  not  been  thrown  on  it  by  the  written  correspond- 
ence of  the  period.  The  historian  has  rather  had 
occasion  to  complain  of  the  embarras  des  richesses ;  for 


PREFACE.  ix 

in  ihe  multiplicity  of  contradictory  testimony  it  is  not 
always  easy  to  detect  the  truth,  as  the  multiplicity  of 
cross-lights  is  apt  to  dazzle  and  bewilder  the  eye  of  the 
spectator. 

The  present  History  has  been  conducted  on  the  same 
general  plan  with  that  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico.  In 
an  Introductory  Book  I  have  endeavored  to  portray  the 
institutions  of  the  Incas,  that  the  reader  may  be  ac- 
quainted with  the  character  and  condition  of  that  ex- 
traordinary race  before  he  enters  on  the  story  of  their 
subjugation.  The  remaining  books  are  occupied  with 
the  narrative  of  the  .Conquest.  And  here  the  subject, 
it  must  be  allowed,  notwithstanding  the  opportunities 
it  presents  for  the  display  of  character,  strange  romantic 
incident,  and  picturesque  scenery,  does  not  afford  so 
obvious  advantages  to  the  historian  as  the  Conquest  of 
Mexico.  Indeed,  few  subjects  can  present  a  parallel 
with  that,  for  the  purposes  either  of  the  historian  or 
the  poet.  The  natural  development  of  the  story,  there, 
is  precisely  what  would  be  prescribed  by  the  severest 
rules  of  art.  The  conquest  of  the  country  is  the  great 
end  always  in  the  view  of  the  reader.  From  the  first 
landing  of  the  Spaniards  on  the  soil,  their  subsequent 
adventures,  their  battles  and  negotiations,  their  ruinous 
retreat,  their  rally  and  final  siege,  all  tend  to  this 
grand  result,  till  the  long  series  is  closed  by  the  down- 
fall of  the  capital.  In  the  march  of  events,  all  moves 
steadily  forward  to  this  consummation.  It  is  a  mag- 
nificent epic,  in  which  the  unity  of  interest  is  com- 
plete. 

In  the  "  Conquest  of  Peru,"  the  action,  so  far  as  it 
is  founded  on  the  subversion  of  the  Incas,  terminates 


PREFACE. 


long  before  the  close  of  the  narrative.     The  remaining 
portion  is  taken  up  with  the  fierce  feuds  of  the  Con- 
querors, which  would  seem,  from  their  very  nature,  tc 
be  incapable  of  being  gathered  round  a  central  point 
of  interest.     To  secure  this,  we  must  look  beyond  the 
immediate  overthrow  of  the  Indian  empire.     1  he  c 
quest  of  the  natives  is  but  the  first  step,  to  be  folio 
by  the   conquest  of  the   Spaniards—  the   rebel  Span- 
iards—themselves, till  the  supremacy  of  the  crown  is 
permanently  established  over  the  country.      It  is  not 
till  this  period  that  the  acquisition  of  this  transatlantu 
empire  can  be  said  to  be  completed  ;  and  by  fixing  the 
eye  on  this  remoter  point  the  successive  steps  of  the 
narrative  will  be  found  leading  to  one  great  result,  and 
that  unity  of  interest  preserved  which  is  scarcely  less 
essential  to  historic  than  dramatic  composition.     How 
far  this  has  been  effected  in  the  present  work  must  be 
left  to  the  judgment  of  the  reader. 

No  history  of  the  Conquest  of  Peru,  founded  on 
original  documents  and  aspiring  to  the  credit  of  a 
classic  composition,  like  the  "Conquest  of  Mexico" 
by  Soils,  has  been  attempted,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  by 
the  Spaniards.  The  English  possess  one  of  high  value, 
from  the  pen  of  Robertson,  whose  masterly  sketch 
occupies  its  due  space  in  his  great  work  on  America. 
It  has  been  my  object  to  exhibit  this  same  story  in  all 
its  romantic  details  ;  not  merely  to  portray  the  charac- 
teristic features  of  the  Conquest,  but  to  fill  up  the  out- 
line with  the  coloring  of  life,  so  as  to  present  a  minute 
and  faithful  picture  of  the  times.  For  this  purpose,  I 
have,  in  the  composition  of  the  work,  availed  myself 
freely  of  my  manuscript  materials,  allowed  the  actors 


PREFACE.  xi 

to  speak  as  much  as  possible  for  themselves,  and  espe- 
cially made  frequent  use  of  their  letters;  for  nowhere 
is  the  heart  more  likely  to  disclose  itself  than  in  the 
freedom  of  private  correspondence.  I  have  made 
liberal  extracts  from  these  authorities  in  the  notes, 
l>oth  to  sustain  the  text,  and  to  put  in  a  printed  form 
those  productions  of  the  eminent  captains  and  states- 
men of  the  time,  which  are  not  very  accessible  to 
Spaniards  themselves. 

M.  Amedee  Pichot,  in  the  Preface  to  the  French 
translation  of  the  "Conquest  of  Mexico,"  infers  from 
the  plan  of  the  composition  that  I  must  have  carefully 
studied  the  writings  of  his  countryman  M.  de  Barante. 
The  acute  critic  does  me  but  justice  in  supposing  me 
familiar  with  the  principles  of  that  writer's  historical 
theory,  so  ably  developed  in  the  Preface  to  his  "  Dues 
de  Bourgogne."  And  I  have  had  occasion  to  admire 
the  skilful  manner  in  which  he  illustrates  this  theory 
himself,  by  constructing  out  of  the  rude  materials  of  a 
distant  time  a  monument  of  genius  that  transports  us 
at  once  into  the  midst  of  the  Feudal  Ages, — and  this 
without  the  incongruity  which  usually  attaches  to  a 
modern-antique.  In  like  manner  I  have  attempted  to 
seize  the  characteristic  expression  of  a  distant  age  and 
to  exhibit  it  in  the  freshness  of  life.  But  in  an  essen- 
tial particular  I  have  deviated  from  the  plan  of  the 
French  historian.  I  have  suffered  the  scaffolding  to 
remain  after  the  building  has  been  completed.  In 
other  words,  I  have  shown  to  the  reader  the  steps  of 
the  process  by  which  I  have  come  to  my  conclusions. 
Instead  of  requiring  him  to  take  my  version  of  the 
story  on  trust,  I  have  endeavored  to  give  him  a  reason 


xii  PREFACE. 

for  my  faith.  By  copious  citations  from  the  original 
authorities,  and  by  such  critical  notices  of  them  as 
would  explain  to  him  the  influences  to  which  they  were 
subjected,  I  have  endeavored  to  put  him  in  a  position 
for  judging  for  himself,  and  thus  for  revising,  and,  if 
need  be,  reversing,  the  judgments  of  the  historian. 
He  will,  at  any  rate,  by  this  means,  be  enabled  to 
estimate  the  difficulty  of  arriving  at  truth  amidst  the 
conflict  of  testimony ;  and  he  will  learn  to  place  little 
reliance  on  those  writers  who  pronounce  on  the  myste- 
rious past  with  what  Fontenelle  calls  "  a  frightful  degree 
of  certainty," — a  spirit  the  most  opposite  to  that  of 
the  true  philosophy  of  history. 

Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  chronicler  who 
records  the  events  of  an  earlier  age  has  some  obvious 
advantages  in  the  store  of  manuscript  materials  at  his 
command,— the  statements  of  friends,  rivals,  and  ene- 
mies furnishing  a  wholesome  counterpoise  to  each 
other, — and  also  in  the  general  course  of  events,  as 
they  actually  occurred,  affording  the  best  commentary 
on  the  true  motives  of  the  parties.  The  actor,  engaged 
in  the  heat  of  the  strife,  finds  his  view  bounded  by 
the  circle  around  him,  and  his  vision  blinded  by  the 
smoke  and  dust  of  the  conflict ;  while  the  spectator, 
whose  eye  ranges  over  the  ground  from  a  more  distant 
and  elevated  point,  though  the  individual  objects  may 
lose  somewhat  of  their  vividness,  takes  in  at  a  glance 
all  the  operations  of  the  field.  Paradoxical  as  it  may 
appear,  truth  founded  on  contemporary  testimony  would 
seem,  after  all,  as  likely  to  be  attained  by  the  writer  of 
a  later  day  as  by  contemporaries  themselves. 

Before  closing  these  remarks,  I  may  be  permitted  to 


PREFACE.  xiii 

add  a  few  of  a  personal  nature.  In  several  foreign 
notices  of  my  writings,  the  author  has  been  said  to  be 
blind  ;  and  more  than  once  I  have  had  the  credit  of 
having  lost  my  sight  in  the  composition  of  my  first  his- 
tory. When  I  have  met  with  such  erroneous  accounts, 
I  have  hastened  to  correct  them.  But  the  present  occa- 
sion affords  me  the  best  means  of  doing  so  ;  and  I  am 
the  more  desirous  of  this  as  1  fear  some  of  my  own 
remarks,  in  the  Prefaces  to  my  former  histories,  have 
led  to  the  mistake. 

•  While  at  the  University,  I  received  an  injury  in  one 
of  my  eyes,  which  deprived  me  of  the  sight  of  it.  The 
other,  soon  after,  was  attacked  by  inflammation  so 
severely  that  for  some  time  I  lost  the  sight  of  that  also  ; 
and,  though  it  was  subsequently  restored,  the  organ  was 
so  much  disordered  as  to  remain  permanently  debili- 
tated, while  twice  in  my  life,  since,  I  have  been  deprived 
of  the  use  of  it  for  all  purposes  of  reading  and  writing, 
for  several  years  together.  It  was  during  one  of  these 
periods  that  I  received  from  Madrid  the  materials  for 
the  "  History  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,"  and  in  my 
disabled  condition,  with  my  transatlantic  treasures  lying 
around  me,  I  was  like  one  pining  from  hunger  in  the 
midst  of  abundance.  In  this  state,  I  resolved  to  make 
the  ear,  if  possible,  do  the  work  of  the  eye.  I  procured 
the  services  of  a  secretary,  who  read  to  me  the  various 
authorities  ;  and  in  time  I  became  so  far  familiar  with 
the  sounds  of  the  different  foreign  languages  (to  some 
of  which,  indeed,  I  had  been  previously  accustomed 
by  a  residence  abroad)  that  I  could  comprehend  his 
reading  without  much  difficulty.  As  the  reader'  pro- 
ceeded, I  dictated  copious  notes ;  and  when  these  had 


xiv  PREFACE. 


swelled  to  a  considerable  amount  they  were  read  to  me 
repeatedly,  till  I  had  mastered  their  contents  sufficiently 
for  the  purposes  of  composition.     The  same  notes  fur- 
nished an  easy  means  of  reference  to  sustain  the  text. 
Still  another  difficulty  occurred,  in  the  mechanics 
labor  of  writing,  which  I  found  a  severe  trial  to  the 
eye      This  was  remedied  by  means  of  a  writing-case, 
such  as  is  used  by  the  blind,  which  enabled  me  to  com- 
mit my  thoughts  to  paper  without  the  aid  of  sight, 
serving  me  equally  well  in  the  dark  as  in  the  light. 
The  characters  thus  formed  made  a  near  approach  to 
hieroglyphics ;  but  my  secretary  became  expert  in  the 
art  of  deciphering,  and  a  fair  copy— with   a   liberal 
allowance  for   unavoidable  blunders— was  transcribed 
for  the  use  of  the  printer.     I  have  described  the  pro- 
cess with  more  minuteness,  as  some  curiosity  has  been 
repeatedly  expressed  in  reference  to  my  modus  operandi 
under  my  privations,  and  the  knowledge  of  it  may  be 
of  some  assistance  to  others  in  similar  circumstances. 

Though  I  was  encouraged  by  the  sensible  progress 
of  my  work,  it  was  necessarily  slow.  But  in  time  the 
tendency  to  inflammation  diminished,  and  the  strength 
of  the  eye  was  confirmed  more  and  more.  It  was  at 
length  so  far  restored  that  I  could  read  for  several  hours 
of  the  day,  though  my  labors  in  this  way  necessarily 
terminated  with  the  daylight.  Nor  could  I  ever  dis- 
pense with  the  services  of  a  secretary,  or  with  the 
writing-case ;  for,  contrary  to  the  usual  experience,  I 
have  found  writing  a  severer  trial  to  the  eye  than  read- 
ing,— a  remark,  however,  which  does  not  apply  to  the 
reading  of  manuscript ;  and  to  enable  myself,  therefore, 
to  revise  my  composition  more  carefully,  I  caused  a 


PREFACE.  xv 

copy  of  the  "  History  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella"  to 
he  printed  for  my  own  inspection  before  it  was  sent  to 
the  press  for  publication.  Such  as  I  have  described 
was  the  improved  state  of  my  health  during  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  "Conquest  of  Mexico;"  and,  satisfied 
with  being  raised  so  nearly  to  a  level  with  the  rest  of 
my  species,  I  scarcely  envied  the  superior  good  fortune 
of  those  who  could  prolong  their  studies  into  the  even- 
ing and  the  later  hours  of  the  night. 

But  a  change  has  again  taken  place  during  the  last 
two  years.  The  sight  of  my  eye  has  become  gradually 
dimmed,  while  the  sensibility  of  the  nerve  has  been  so 
far  increased  that  for  several  weeks  of  the  last  year  I 
have  not  opened  a  volume,  and  through  the  whole  time 
I  have  not  had  the  use  of  it,  on  an  average,  for  more 
than  an  hour  a  day.  Nor  can  I  cheer  myself  with  the 
delusive  expectation  that,  impaired  as  the  organ  has 
become  from  having  been  tasked,  probably,  beyond  its 
strength,  it  can  ever  renew  its  youth,  or  be  of  much 
service  to  me  hereafter  in  my  literary  researches. 
Whether  I  shall  have  the  heart  to  enter,  as  I  had  pro- 
posed, on  a  new  and  more  extensive  field  of  historical 
labor,  with  these  impediments,  I  cannot  say.  Perhaps 
long  habit,  and  a  natural  desire  to  follow  up  the  career 
which  I  have  so  long  pursued,  may  make  this,  in  a 
manner,  necessary,  as  my  past  experience  has  already 
proved  that  it  is  practicable. 

From  this  statement — too  long,  I  fear,  for  his  pa- 
tience— the  reader  who  feels  any  curiosity  about  the 
matter  will  understand  the  real  extent  of  my  embar- 
rassments in  my  historical  pursuits.  That  they  have 
not  been  very  light  will  be  readily  admitted,  when  it 


xvi  PREFACE. 

is  considered  that  I  have  had  but  a  limited  use  of  my 
eye  in  its  best  state,  and  that  much  of  the  time  I  have 
been  debarred  from  the  use  of  it  altogether.  Yet  the 
difficulties  I  have  had  to  contend  with  are  very  far 
inferior  to  those  which  fall  to  the  lot  of  a  blind  man. 
I  know  of  no  historian  now  alive  who  can  claim  the 
glory  of  having  overcome  such  obstacles,  but  the  author 
of  "  La  Conquete  de  1'Angleterre  par  les  Normands  ;" 
who,  to  use  his  own  touching  and  beautiful  language, 
"has  made  himself  the  friend  of  darkness,"  and  who, 
to  a  profound  philosophy  that  requires  no  light  but 
that  from  within,  unites  a  capacity  for  extensive  and 
various  research,  that  might  well  demand  the  severest 
application  of  the  student. 

The  remarks  into  which  I  have  been  led  at  such 
length  will,  I  trust,  not  be  set  down  by  the  reader  to 
an  unworthy  egotism,  but  to  their  true  source,  a  desire 
to  correct  a  misapprehension  to  which  I  may  have  un- 
intentionally given  rise  myself,  and  which  has  gained 
me  the  credit  with  some — far  from  grateful  to  my 
feelings,  since  undeserved— of  having  surmounted  the 
incalculable  obstacles  which  lie  in  the  path  of  the  blind 
man. 
BOSTON,  April  2, 1847. 


CONTENTS    OF    VOL.   I. 


BOOK    I. 

INTRODUCTION.— VIEW  OF  THE  CIVILIZATION  OF 
THE  INCAS. 

CHAPTER    I. 

TAG* 

PHYSICAL  ASPECT  OK  THE  COUNTRY.— SOURCES  OF  PERU- 
%-IAN  CIVILIZATION.— KMPIRE  OK  THE  INCAS.— ROYAL 

FAMILY.— NOBILITY .       .  J, 

Extent  of  the  Peruvian  Kmpire    .__    A «__._• . .  ^4 

Its  Topographical  Aspect 5 

Unfavorable  to  Husbandry 6 

Natural  Impediments  overcome 7 

Source  of  Civilization     ........  8 

Children  of  the  Sun           ........  9 

Other  Traditions 10 

Their  Uncertainty      .         .        .        .        .        .        .        .         .11 

Conquests  of  the  Incas 16 

City  of  Cuzco 17 

Fortress  of  Cuzco          ........  18 

Its  remarkable  Structure 19 

Queen  of  the  Inca 21 

Heir-apparent 22 

Order  of  Chivalry 23 

Ceremonies  of  Admission          .......  24 

Inca  a  Despot        .........  26 

His  Dress           ..........  27 

Intercourse  with  the  People 27 

Progresses  through  the  Country 28 

Royal  Palaces 29 

(xix) 


xx  CONTENTS. 

FAGB 

Their  gorgeous  Decorations 3' 

Gardens  of  Yucay         .         .         .... 

All  closed  at  the  Inca's  Death •         -3. 

Obsequies  of  the  Incas 33 

Their  Bodies  preserved 34 

Produced  at  Festivals 35 

Inca  Nobles 36 

Their  exclusive  Privileges 37 

Curacas 3» 

*Inca  Nobility  the  highest 39 

CHAPTER    II. 

ORDERS  OF  THE  STATE.— PROVISIONS  FOR  JUSTICE.— DIVIS- 
ION OF  LANDS.— Ri*'ENUES  AND  REGISTERS.— GREAT 

ROADS  AND  POSTS.— MILITARY  TACTICS  AND  POLICY    .  43 

Name  of  Peru 44 

Divisions  of  the  Empire 45 

Tribunals  of  Justice 46 

Character  of  the  Laws       ........  47 

Simple  Administration  of  Justice 48 

Threefold  Distribution  of  Lands 50  • 

Division  renewed  yearly        .......  51 

Agrarian  Law    .  • .     '    .         .         .         .         .         .         .52 

The  Land  cultivated  by  the  People 53 

Appropriation  and  Care  of  the  Llamas     .         .         .         .         -54 

Woollen  Manufactures 55 

Labor  in  Peru 56 

Registers  and  Surveys  by  Government          ....  57 
Rotation  of  Labor     .         .         .                 .         .             /            -58 

Magazines  of  Products  and  Manufactures    ....  59 
Taxation  borne  wholly  by  the  People        ...                  .62 

No  Room  for  Progress 62 

No  Pauperism 63 

Monuments  of  Peruvian  Industry 64 

Great  Roads 64 

Suspension  Bridges 66 

Caravansaries,  or  Tambos 68 

System  of  Posts 6- 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

PACK 

Relays  of  Couriers 70 

Military  Policy  of  the  Incas 72 

X^onquests  in  the  Name  of  Religion 72 

Peruvian  Army 73 

Arms  and  Armor     .........  74 

Military  Quarters  and  Magazines        .....  75 

Lenient  Policy  in  War    ........  77 

^/Religion  of  the  Conquered  Nations     .        !        .        .        .  78 

Disposition  of  the  Conquered  Territory          ....  79 

Quichua  Language *8i 

Mitimaes 82 

Unity  of  Purpose  in  Peruvian  Institutions  ....  84 

Domestic  Quiet  their  Aim        .......  85 

>/  Religious  Character  of  Peruvian  Wars        ....  86 

Singular  Harmony  in  their  Empire 87 


yCH AFTER    III. 

PERUVIAN    RELIGION.— DEITIES. — GORGEOUS   TEMPLES. — 

FESTIVALS. — VIRGINS  OF  THE  SUN. — MARRIAGE.       .  88 

y  Religion  of  the  American  Races  ......  88 

^/Peruvian  Notions  of  a  Future  Life ......  91 

Embalming  and  Burial         .......  92 

,Wea  of  God 93 

Worship  of  the  Sun 95 

Inferior  Deities 96 

Temple  of  the  Sun  at  Cuzco 99 

Its  Richness  and  Splendor 100 

Temples  of  inferior  Deities .......  101 

Utensils  and  Ornaments  of  Gold     .         .        .        .        .  101 

Proofs  of  ancient  Magnificence  ......  103 

High  Priest 105 

Sacerdotal  Order 105 

Duties  of  Priests 106 

Festival  of  Raymi 106 

Human  Sacrifices  rare 108 

Sacred  Flame no 

Religious  Ceremony in 

Virgins  of  the  Sun 113 


xxii  CONTENTS. 


Convents          .... 

Brides  of  the  Inca       .....  n6   - 

Marriage  universal  ...... 

Provisions  for  Marriage        ..... 

CHAPTER    IV. 

EDUCATION.  -  QUIPUS.  -  ASTRONOMY.  -AGRICULTURE.— 
AQUEDUCTS.-GUANO.-IMPORTANT  ESCULENTS  .       .120 

Education  in  Peru        .......        • 

Seminaries  and  Amautas         ........  l! 

Quipus  and  Quipucamayus          ...... 

Method  of  transmitting  History      . 

Various  Symbols  of  Thought      ......  "5 

Quipus  the  poorest  .........  * 

Traditional  Minstrelsy         .......  I27 

Quichua  Dialect       .........  I27 

Theatrical  Exhibitions          .......  Ia8 

Division  of  Time      .........  I29 

Regulated  by  the  Equinoxes        ...... 

Little  Progress  in  Astronomy  .......  I3I 

The  Inca's  Care  of  Agriculture   ......  *33 

System  of  Irrigation         .....•••  *34 

Aqueducts    ..........  *35 

Terraces  on  the  Sierra     ........  136 

Guano  ...........  I38 

Substitute  for  the  Plough         .......  139 

Fairs    ...........  14° 

Variety  of  Products         ........  141 

Indian  Corn         .........  142 

Cuca        .......        ....  143 

Potatoes       ..........  144 

CHAPTER    V. 

PERUVIAN  SHEEP.—  GREAT  HUNTS.—  MANUFACTURES.—  ME- 
CHANICAL SKILL.—  ARCHITECTURE.—  CONCLUDING  RE- 
FLECTIONS ..........    146 

Advantages  for  Manufactures       ......         147 

The  Llama      ..........    147 


•C0\77-.\rs.  xxiii 

PAGE 

Alpacas 149 

Huanacos  and  Vicuftas    .         .        .        .        .        .         .        .149 

Great  annual  Hunts 150 

Woollen  Manufactures 152 

Division  of  Mechanical  Labor 153 

Extraordinary  Dexterity  in  the  Arts   ' 154 

No  Use  of  Iron '               .        .  155 

Gold  and  Silver 156 

Architecture  a  Test  of  Civilization      .....  157 

Peruvian  Architecture     ........  158 

Houses 160 

Their  Simplicity  of  Construction 161 

Adaptation  to  Climate   " 161 

Comparison  between  the  Inca  and  Aztec  Races     .         .        .  163 

In  Policy  and  Religion 164 

In  Science 165 

Peruvian  and  Eastern  Empires 167 

The  Incas  perfect  Despots 168 

Careful  of  the  People  ........  170 

No  Free  Agency  in  Peru 170 

No  Idleness  or  Poverty 171 

Influence  of  Government  on  Character 174 

Life  and  Works  of  Sarmiento 177 

And  of  Polo  de  Ondegardo 181 


BOOK   II. 

DISCOVERY   OF   PERU. 

CHAPTER    I. 

ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  SCIENCE. — ART  OF  NAVIGATION. — 
MARITIME  DISCOVERY. — SPIRIT  OF  THE  SPANIARDS. — 
POSSESSIONS  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD. — RUMORS  CONCERN- 
ING PERU 187 

Introductory  Remarks 187 

Progress  in  Navigation 191 


CONTENTS. 

PAG* 
192 

Early  Voyages  of  Discovery        .  ^    ^ 

Discovery  of  America     .  '    .    '    194 

Romantic  Expectations        . 
Northern  and  Southern  Adventurers       .  • 

Extent  of  Discovery  •       .  • 

Balboa  reaches  the  Pacific       ... 

Colonial  Policy 2QO 

Pedro  Arias  de  Avila        .        •        •        • 
Foundation  of  Panama        . 

First  Southern  Expedition 

Rumors  respecting  Peru 


CHAPTER    II. 

FRANCISCO  PIZARRO.-HIS  EARLY  HISTORY. -FIRST  EX- 
PEDITION TO  THE  SOUTH.-DISTRESSES  OF  THE  VOY- 
AGERS.-SHARP  ENCOUNTERS.-RETURN  TO  PANAMA. 

— ALMAGRO'S  EXPEDITION *°* 

Francisco  Pizarro's  Early  Life 

He  goes  to  Hispaniola * 

Various  Adventures 

He  accompanies  Pedrarias  to  Panama * 

Southern  Expeditions 

Almagro  and  Luque * 

Their  Union  with  Pizarro 

First  Expedition  for  Discovery 2I1 

Pizarro  takes  Command  of  it 2I2 

Enters  the  River  Biru 2I3 

Distresses  on  Shore aI3 

Pursues  his  Voyage  along  the  Coast '.214 

Heavy  Tempests 2I4 

Puts  back  and  lands         ........  2I4 

Great  Sufferings  of  the  Spaniards 215 

Montenegro  sent  back  for  Supplies 217 

Indian  Village 2l8 

Great  Distresses  during  his  Absence 220 

He  returns  with  Assistance          ......  220 

Uncertainty  of  the  Spaniards  .         .         .        .         .        .         .221 

"They  proceed  farther  South «2i 


CONTENTS.  xxv 

PACE 

Traces  of  Cannibalism 222 

Pizarro  reconnoitres  the  Country        .....  223 

Fierce  Conflict  with  the  Natives      ......  224 

Danger  of  Pizarro 225 

He  sends  back  his  Vessel '.226 

Adventures  of  Almagro 227 

He  joins  Pizarro 228 

Returns  to  Panama 299 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  FAMOUS  CONTRACT.— SECOND  EXPEDITION.— Ruiz  EX- 
I'l.oRK*  THK  COAST.— PlZARRO'S  SUFFERINGS  IN  THE 
FOREST. — ARRIVAL  OF  NEW  RECRUITS. — FRESH  DIS- 
COVERIES AND  DISASTERS. — PIZARRO  ON  THE  ISLE  OF 

GALLO 230 

Almagro  coolly  received  by  Pedrarias         ....  230 

Influence  of  Fernando  de  Luque 231 

Narrow  Views  of  the  Governor 232 

His  subsequent  History 234 

Pizarro.  Almagro,  and  Luque 235 

Famous  Contract  for  discovering  Peru 236 

^-Religious  Tone  assumed  in  it      .         .         .        .        .        .  237 

Motives  of  the  Conquerors      .  >    .        .        .        .        .  337 

Luque's  Share  in  the  Enterprise          .....  238 

Preparations  for  the  Voyage 239 

Insufficiency  of  Supplies 240 

Sailing  of  the  Armament 241 

Almagro  returns  to  Panama 241 

The  Pilot  Ruiz  explores  the  Coast 242 

Indian  Balsas 243 

Signs  of  higher  Civilization     .        .        .        .        .        .        .  *^<\ 

Returns  with  Indian  Captives      ......  245 

Pizarro's  Journey  into  the  Interior          .....  245 

Frightful  Difficulties  of  the  March 246 

Almagro  returns  with  Recruits         ......  247 

They  continue  their  Voyage 348 

Thickly-settled  Country 249 

Gold  and  Precious  Stones .  250 

Peru. — VOL.  I. — 2  c 


xxvj  CONTENTS. 

fAGK 

Warlike  Aspect  of  the  Natives a- 

Deliberations  of  the  Spaniards    .        .        . 

Dispute  between  Pizarro  and  Almagro 2' 

The  latter  returns  to  Panama '' 

Pizarro  remains  at  the  Isle  of  Gallo 2' 

His  Followers  discontented • 

Send  home  a  secret  Letter 256 

CHAPTER    IV. 

INDIGNATION  OF  THE  GOVERNOR.— STERN  RESOLUTION  OF 
PIZARRO.— PROSECUTION  OF  THE  VOYAGE.— BRILLIANT 
ASPECT  OF  TUMBEZ.— DISCOVERIES  ALONG  THE  COAST. 
—  RETURN  TO  PANAMA.  —  PIZARRO  EMBARKS  FOR 

SPAIN 258 

Pizarro  ordered  to  return 259 

He  refuses **> 

His  bold  Resolution 2O° 

Thirteen  adhere  to  him 26t 

Pizarro's  heroic  Constancy 262 

Remove  to  the  Isle  of  Gorgona 264 

Efforts  of  Luque  and  Almagro 265 

Succors  sent  to  Pizarro 266 

He  continues  his  Voyage 267 

Enters  the  Gulf  of  Guayaquil 268 

Lands  at  Tumbez 269 

Kind  Reception  by  its  Inhabitants 270 

Visit  of  an  Inca  Noble 271 

Adventure  of  Molina       ........  272 

Pedro  de  Candia  sent  on  Shore  ......  274 

Kindly  treated  by  the  Natives 275 

Reports  of  the  Riches  of  the  Place     .         .        .         .         .  275 

Joy  of  the  Spaniards 277 

Pizarro  again  steers  for  the  South 278 

Tossed  about  by  Tempests      .......    278 

Touches  at  various  Points  of  the  Coast       ....  279 

Splendid  Accounts  of  the  Peruvian  Empire   ....    279 

Arrives  at  the  Port  of  Santa        .         .         .        .         .         .  281 

Homeward  Voyage  .  .    282 


CONTENTS.  xxvii 

FACE 

Lands  at  Santa  Cruz 282 

Entertained  by  an  Indian  Princess 282 

Continues  his  Voyage  to  Panamd 284 

Joy  and  Triumph  of  his  Associates 284 

Coldness  of  the  Governor 285 

Pizarro  goes  as  Envoy  to  Spain 287 

Notice  of  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega 288 

His  Life  and  Writings 289 

Character  of  his  Works 990 


BOOK    III. 

CONQUEST  OF   PERU. 

CHAPTER    I. 

PIZARRO'S  RECEPTION  AT  COURT.— His  CAPITULATION  WITH 
THE  CROWN.— HE  VISITS  HIS  BIRTHPLACE.— RETURNS 
TO  THK  NEW  WORLD.— DIFFICULTIES  WITH  ALMAGRO. 
— His  THIRD  EXPEDITION. — RICH  INDIAN  BOOTY. — 

BATTLES  IN  THE  ISLE  OF  PUNA 297 

Pirarro  in  Spain  .........        297 

Gracious  Reception  at  Court  .......    298 

Relates  his  Adventures  to  the  Emperor      ....        299 

His  Capitulation  with  the  Crown     ......    301 

Dignities  conferred  on  him  .......         301 

Provisions  in  Behalf  of  the  Natives         .....    304 

Grasping  Spirit  of  Pizarro 305 

He  visits  his  Birthplace   ........    307 

The  Pizarro  Family 308 

His  Brother  Hernando 308 

Obstacles  to  the  Expedition 310 

Sails  and  crosses  to  Nombre  de  Dios 311 

Almagro  greatly  discontented 311 


xvjii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

A  Rupture  with  Difficulty  prevented 3X3 

Expedition  fitted  out  at  Panama 3*4 

Pizarro's  final  Voyage  to  Peru 3J5 

Driven  into  the  Bay  of  St.  Matthew 3*5 

Lands  his  Forces 3l6 

Plunders  an  Indian  Village 3:7 

Division  of  Spoil 3*8 

He  marches  along  the  Coast       .......  3»9 

Sufferings  and  Discontent  of  the  Spaniards    .        .        .        .32° 

They  reach  Puerto  Viejo     . 321 

Joined  by  Reinforcements 321 

Cross  to  Isle  of  Pund 322 

Conspiracy  of  its  Inhabitants 323 

They  attack  the  Spanish  Camp 324 

Arrival  of  De  Soto  with  Recruits 325 


CHAPTER     II. 

PERU  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE  CONQUEST.— REIGN  OF  HUAYNA 
CAPAC.— THE  INCA  BROTHERS.— CONTEST  FOR  THE  EM- 
PIRE.—TRIUMPH  AND  CRUELTIES  OF  ATAHUALLPA  .  327 

The  Inca  Huayna  Capac 327 

His  Apprehensions  respecting  the  White  Men         .         .         .  329 

Prognostics  of  Trouble  in  Peru  ......  329 

Atahuallpa  the  Inca's  Son        .......  332 

Shares  the  Empire  with  his  Brother  Huascar      .         .         .  332 

Causes  of  Jealousy  between  them  ......  335 

Commencement  of  Hostilities     ......  336 

Huascar's  Forces  defeated 337 

Ravage  of  Canaris 537 

Atahuallpa  marches  on  Cuzco 338 

His  Victory  at  Quipaypan   .         .         .         .         .         .         .  339 

Capture  of  Huascar 340 

Accounts  of  Atahuallpa's  Cruelties 341 

Reasons  for  doubting  their  Accuracy 342 

Atahuallpa's  Triumph          .... 

His  Want  of  Foresight    . 

•          •          •          • 


CHAPTER    III. 

PAGB 

THE  SPANIARDS  LAND  AT  TUMBEZ.— PIZARRO  RECONNOI- 
TRES  THE  COUNTRY. — FOUNDATION  OF  SAN  MIGUEL. — 
MARCH  INTO  THE  INTERIOR. — EMBASSY  FROM  THE 
INCA. — ADVENTURES  ON  THE  MARCH. — REACH  THE 

FOOT  OF  THE  ANDES 346 

Spaniards  pass  over  to  Tumbez 346 

The  Place  deserted  and  dismantled     .....  347 

Its  Curaca  captured          ........  348 

^.  Pizarro  reconnoitres  the  Country 350 

i_His  conciliating  Policy    . 351 

^1  It- founds  San  Miguel 352 

^-Learns  the  State  of  the  Kingdom 354 

-    Determines  to  strike  Into  the  Interior          ....  355 

-    His  probable  Intentions 355 

Boldness  of  the  Enterprise 356 

Marches  through  the  Level  Country        .....  357 

— Hospitality  of  the  Natives 358 

Discontent  in  the  Army  ........  359 

1'izarro's  Expedient  to  quiet  it 359 

Reception  at  Zaran 361 

Envoy  from  the  Inca 362 

Courteously  received  by  Pizarro 363 

His  Message  to  the  Inca 364 

De  Solo's  Expedition 364 

His  Accounts  of  the  Indian  Empire   .         .         .              '    .  365 

March  towards  Caxamalca      .......  367 

Contradictory  Information  .......  368 

Emissary  to  Atahuallpa  ........  369 

Effective  Eloquence  of  Pizarro   .         .        .        .        .        .  371 

CHAPTER    IV. 

SEVERE  PASSAGE  OK  THE  ANDES.— EMBASSIES  FROM  ATA- 
HUALLPA.—THE  SPANIARDS  REACH  CAXAMALCA.— EM- 
BASSY TO  THE  INCA.— INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  INCA.— 

DESPONDENCY  OF  THE  SPANIARDS 373 

March  over  the  Andes 373 

C* 


xx  CONTENTS. 

MM 
Fearful  Passes  of  the  Sierra    .  .  •         •         -3: 

Toilsome  and  Dangerous  Ascent 

Mountain  Fortresses 3' 

The  Army  gain  the  Summit 

Indian  Embassy 3, 

Lofty  Tone  of  Pizarro 

Return  of  the  Spanish  Envoy 3! 

Different  Accounts  of  Atahuallpa 3%° 

Bold  Descent  of  the  Cordilleras 38° 

Beautiful  Valley  of  Caxamalca 381 

Imposing  View  of  the  Peruvian  Camp 3Sl 

Entrance  into  Caxamalca 38z 

Description  of  the  City 383 

De  Soto  sent  to  Atahuallpa 385 

His  Interview  with  the  Monarch 388 

Haughty  Demeanor  of  the  Latter       .  .  389 

His  Reply  to  Pizarro 389 

Soto's  Exhibition  of  Horsemanship 39° 

Gloomy  Forebodings  of  the  Spaniards 391 

Courage  of  Pizarro 39a 

Daring  Plan  for  seizing  the  Inca      .        .        .         .         .         •  393 

Reasons  for  its  Adoption 394 


CHAPTER    V. 

DESPERATE  PLAN  OF  PIZARRO.— ATAHUALLPA  VISITS  THE 
SPANIARDS.— HORRIBLE  MASSACRE.— THE  INCA  A  PRIS- 
ONER.—CONDUCT  OF  THE   CONQUERORS.— SPLENDID 

PROMISES  OF  THE  INCA.— DEATH  OF  HUASCAR      .       .  397 

Disposition  of  the  Spanish  Troops      .....  397 

y — Religious  Ceremonies       ........  398 

Approach  of  the  Inca          .......  399 

Designs  not  to  enter  the  Town         ......  401 

Disappointment  of  the  Spaniards         .....  401 

i/^Atahuallpa  changes  his  Purpose       .         .         .        .         .         .  402 

^Leaves  his  Warriors  behind         ......  402 

^Enters  the  great  Square 403 

uUrged.to  embrace  Christianity 405 

,/He  rejects  it  with  Disdain 406 


CONTENTS.  xxxi 

PACK 

General  Attack  of  the  Spaniards 408 

Bloody  Massacre  of  the  Peruvians          .....  409 

Seizure  of  Atahuallpa          .        .        .        .        .        .        .  411 

Dispersion  of  his  Army   .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .412 

Demeanor  of  the  Captive  Monarch 414 

His  probable  Designs      ........  414 

Courteously  treated  by  Pizarro 415 

Indian  Prisoners 418 

Rich  Spoils  of  the  Inca 419 

Magnificent  Offer  of  Atahuallpa 421 

Accepted  by  Pizarro 421 

Inca's  Mode  of  Life  in  Captivity 423 

Refuses  to  embrace  Christianity  ......  424 

Assassination  of  his  Brother  Huascar 425 


CHAPTER    VI. 

GOLD  ARRIVES  FOR  THE  RANSOM.— VISIT  TO  PACHACAMAC. 
— DEMOLITION  OK  THE  IDOL. — THE  INCA'S  FAVORITE 
(iiNKKAi.. — THE  INCA'S  I.IKE  is  CONFINEMENT. — EN- 
VOYS' CONDUCT  is  Cuzco.— ARRIVAL  OF  AI.MAORO     .  428 
Slow  Arrival  of  the  Ransom        ..»,..  428 

Rumors  of  an  Indian  Rising 429 

Emissaries  sent  to  Cuzco 430 

City  and  Temple  of  Pachacamac 430 

Hernando  Pizarro's  March  thither 431 

Great  Road  of  the  Incas 431 

Herds  of  Llamas         ........  433 

Rich  Cultivation  of  the  Valleys 433 

Hernando's  Arrival  at  the  City    ......  434 

Forcible  Entry  into  the  Temple 435 

Horror  of  the  Natives 435 

Destruction  of  the  Indian  Idol 436 

Small  Amount  of  Booty 437 

Hernando  marches  against  Challcuchima        ....  438 

Persuades  him  to  visit  Caxamalca 439 

Interview  of  Atahuallpa  with  his  General       ....  440 

The  Inca's  absolute  Authority ^41 

His  Personal  Habits  and  Appearance     .....  441 


xxii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Return  of  the  Emissaries  from  Cuzco          ....  442 

Magnificent  Reports  of  the  City 443 

They  stripped  the  Gold  from  the  Temples  ....  444 

Their  Insolence  and  Rapacity 444 

Return  with  Loads  of  Treasure 445 

Almagro  arrives  in  Peru 445 

Brings  a  large  Reinforcement      .         .         .        •  '               •  445 

Joins  Pizarro's  Camp 447 

Superstitious  Bodings  of  Atahuallpa 448 


CHAPTER    VII. 

IMMENSE  AMOUNT  OF  TREASURE.— ITS  DIVISION  AMONG 
THE  TROOPS. — RUMORS  OK  A  RISING. — TRIAL  OF  THE 
INCA.— His  EXECUTION.— REFLECTIONS        .       .       -45° 

Division  of  the  Inca's  Ransom    .         .    .    .         .         .         .  450 

Hernando  takes  the  Royal  Fifth  to  Spain       .         .         .         -45= 

His  Jealousy  of  Almagro    .......  452 

Enormous  Amount  of  the  Treasure 453 

Difficulties  in  its  Distribution      ......  455 

Shares  of  the  Pizarros 457 

Those  of  the  Soldiers 457 

Exclusion  of  Almagro  and  his  Followers        ....  458 

Preparations  for  the  March  to  Cuzco  .....  459 

The  Inca  demands  his  Liberty 460 

Equivocal  Conduct  of  Pizarro 461 

The  Interpreter  Felipillo 462 

The  Inca  charged  with  inciting  Insurrection       .        .        .  463 

His  Protestations  of  Innocence 463 

His  Apprehensions      ........  464 

Fears  and  Murmurs  of  the  Spaniards 465 

They  demand  the  Inca's  Death 465 

He  is  brought  to  Trial 466 

Charges  against  him 466 

Condemned  to  be  burnt  alive 468 

Some  protest  against  the  Sentence 468 

The  Inca  entirely  unmanned 469 

His  earnest  Entreaties  for  Mercy         .....  470 
Led  to  Execution I 


^-Abjures  his  Religion 472 

Perishes  by  the  Garrote 472 

His  Character  and  Appearance 473 

Funeral  Obsequies 474 

Return  of  De  Soto 475 

His  Indignation  and  Astonishment 476 

Reflections  on  the  Inca's  Treatment   .....  477 

Responsibility  of  Pizarro         .......  478 

Motives  of  Personal  Pique  .......  480 

Views  of  Chroniclers  respecting  the  Execution       .        .        .  481 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

DISORDERS  IN  PERU.— MARCH  TO  Cuzco.— ENCOUNTER 
WITH  THE  NATIVES.— CHAI.I.CUCHIMA  HURNT.— AR- 
RIVAL IN  Cuzco.— DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CITY. — 

TREASURE  FOUND  THERE 4&3 

Authority  of  the  Inca  in  Peru     ......  483 

Effects  of  Atahuallpa's  Death          ......  484 

New  Inca  appointed  by  Pizarro  ,         .         .         .         .  485 

March  to  Cuzco 486 

Formidable  Mountain -Passes   .  .         .  /  .  487 

Tedious  and  painful  Route 488 

Conflict  with  the  Indians 489 

Pizarro  halts  at  Xauxa     . 490 

De  Soto  sent  forward 490 

Furiously  assaulted  in  the  Sierra     ......  491 

Fierce  Battle  with  the  Indians 491 

Apprehensions  of  the  Spaniards      ......  492 

Arrival  of  Succors 493 

The  Peruvians  retreat 494 

Challcuchima  accused  of  Conspiracy 495 

Death  of  the  Inca  Toparca 496 

Rich  Vale  of  Xaquixaguana 497 

Trial  and  Condemnation  of  Challcuchima      ....  497 

Burned  alive  before  the  Army 498 

Spaniards  arrive  at  Cuzco 500 

Entrance  into  the  Capital 501 

Its  large  Population          ........  503 

a* 


xxxiv  CONTEXTS. 

MM 

Gorgeous  Edifices        . 503 

Its  massive  Fortress         ........  504 

Temple  of  the  Sun      ........  505 

Plunder  of  the  Public  Buildings 506 

Amount  of  Treasure  secured      ......  507 

Its  Division  among  the  Troops       ......  508 

Its  Effect  upon  the  Spaniards     ......  509 


BOOK   FIRST. 

INTRODUCTION. 

VIEW  OF  THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  INCAS 


Peru.— VOL.  I.— A  & 


CONQUEST  OF  PERU. 


BOOK  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

VIEW  OF  THE  CIVILIZATION   OF  THE   INCAS. 
CHAPTER   I. 

PHYSICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE  COUNTRY. — SOURCES  OF  PERU- 
VIAN CIVILIZATION. — EMPIRE  OF  THE  INCAS. — ROYAL 
FAMILY. — NOBILITY. 

OF  the  numerous  nations  which  occupied  the  great  ' 
American  continent  at  the  time  of  its  discovery  by  the 
Europeans,  the  two  most  advanced  in  power  and  re- 
finement were  undoubtedly  those  of  Mexico  and  Peru. 
Hut,  though  resembling  one  another  in  extent  of  civili- 
zation, they  differed  widely  as  to  the  nature  of  it ;  and 
the  philosophical  student  of  his  species  may  feel  a 
natural  curiosity  to  trace  the  different  steps  by  which 
these  two  nations  strove  to  emerge  from  the  state  of 
barbarism  and  place  themselves  on  a  higher  point  in 
the  scale  of  humanity.  In  a  former  work  I  have  en- 
deavored to  exhibit  the  institutions  and  character  of 
the  ancient  Mexicans,  and  the  story  of  their  conquest 
by  the  Spaniards.  The  present  will  be  devoted  to  the 

(3) 


4  CIVILIZATION  OF    TffE   INC  AS. 

Peruvians ;  and  if  their  history  shall  be  found  to  pre- 
sent less  strange  anomalies  and  striking  contrasts  than 
that  of  the  Aztecs,  it  may  interest  us  quite  as  much  by 
the  pleasing  picture  it  offers  of  a  well  regulated  govern- 
ment and  sober  habits  of  industry  under  the  patriarchal 
sway  of  the  Incas. 

The  empire  of  Peru,  at  the  period  of  the  Spanish 
invasion,  stretched  along  the  Pacific  from  about  the 
second  degree  north  to  the  thirty-seventh  degree  of 
south  latitude ;  a  line,  also,  which  describes  the  western 
boundaries  of  the  modern  republics  of  Ecuador,  Peru, 
Bolivia,  and  Chili.  Its  breadth  cannot  so  easily  be 
determined ;  for,  though  bounded  everywhere  by  the 
great  ocean  on  the  west,  towards  the  east  it  spread  out, 
in  many  parts,  considerably  beyond  the  mountains,  to 
the  confines  of  barbarous  states,  whose  exact  position 
is  undetermined,  or-Yvnose  names  are  effaced  from  the 
map  of  history.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  its  breadth 
was  altogether  disproportioned  to  its  length.1 

The  topographical  aspect  of  the  country  is  very  re- 
markable. A  strip  of  land,  rarely  exceeding  twenty 
leagues  in  width,  runs  along  the  coast,  and  is  hemmed 
in  through  its  whole  extent  by  a  colossal  range  of 
mountains,  which,  advancing  from  the  straits  of  Magel- 

/*  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  65.*— Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica 
del  Peru  (Anvers,  1554),  cap.  41.— Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  Commen- 
taries Reales  (Lisboa,  1609),  Parte  i,  lib.  i,  cap.  8.— According  to  the 
last  authority,  the  empire,  in  its  greatest  breadth,  did  not  exceed  one 
hundred  and  twenty  leagues.  But  Garcilasso's  geography  will  not 
bear  criticism. 


*  [In  regard  to  the  real  authorship  of  the  work  erroneously  attrib- 
uted by  Prescott  to  Juan  de  Sarmiento,  see  infra,  p.  178,  note.— ED.] 


PHYSICAL    ASPECT   OF    THE  COUNTRY.          5 

L  reaches  its  highest  elevation — indeed,  the  highest 
the    4me"can   continent — about   the    seventeenth 
jree  south,'  and,  after  crossing  the  line,  gradually 
into  hills  of  inconsiderable  magnitude,  as  it 
|rrs  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.       This  is  the  famous 
lillera  of  the   Andes,    or    "copper   mountains,"3 
termed   by   the   natives,   though    they  might  with 
reason  have  been  called  "mountains  of  gold." 
iged  sometimes    in  a  single    line,  though    more 
juentk'  in  two  or   three   lines   running  parallel  or 
iquely  to  each  other,  they  seem  to  the  voyager  on 
but  one  continuous  chain ;  while  the  huge 
inoe;,  which  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  table-land 
likt   solitary  and  independent  masses,  appear  to 
Dili*    like   so  many  peaks  of  the   same  vast  and 
n'ficjnt  range.     So  immense  is  the  scale  on  which 
vorks  in  these  regions  that  it   is  only  when 
from  a  great  distance  that  the  spectator  can  in 
,rree  comprehend   the   relation  of  the  several 

ing  to  Malte-Brun,  it  is  under  the  equator  that  we  meet 
tiest  summits  of  this  chain.     Universal  Geography,  Eng. 
)k  86.)     But  more  recent  measurements  have  shown  this  to 
en  and  seventeen  degrees  south,  where  the  Nevado  de 
of  35,250  feet,  and  the  Illimani 

B 

i  .;»/<;,  which  has  fceen  thought  to  furnish  the 
-  uin  tongue,  signified  "  copper."f 

>; 
— 

*  [It  i-  now  known  tH^HBMHBDwherc  attain  the  elevations 
here  mentioned,  and  theMhU^ht  of  Sorata  and  Illimani,  as  stated  by 
the  latest  authorities  ;  .  1.286  ;nd  31.149  feet  respectively. — ED.] 

t  [But  this  etymology  ^^^H^^^Kerally  accepted,  and  it  is  in 
fact  highly  improh.ihle.    V^^B^^^V°n-  **$  Huinboldt  remarks, 
is  "  tost  in  the  obscurity  ri^^^^^^Kb. 
i 


CIVILIZATION   OF   THE   INC  AS. 


parts  to  the  stupendous  whole.     Few  of  the  works, 
Nature,  indeed,  are  calculated  to  produce  impressi^ 
of  higher  sublimity  than  the  aspect  of  this  coast,  as  i: 
gradually  unfolded  to  the  eye  of  the  mariner  sailing< 
the  distant  waters  of  the  Pacific  ;  where  mountain 
seen  to  rise^bovecmountain,  and  Chimborazo,  with 
glorious  canopy  of  snow,  glittering  far  above  the  cl 
crowns  the  whole*  as  with  a  celestial  diadem.4 

The  face  of  the  country  would  appear  to  be 
liarly  unfavorable  to  the  purposes  both  of  ajricult 
and  of  internal  communication.     The  sandy  stj-ip  al^ 
the  coast,  where  rain  rarely  falls,  is  fed  only  by 
scanty  streams,  that  furnish  a  remarkable  cojiti 
the  vast  volumes  of  water  which  roll  down  the 
sides  of  the  Cordilleras  into  the  Atlantic.     The 
cipitous  steeps  of  the  sierra,  wfth  its  splintered 
of  porphyry  and  granite,  and  its  hjigher  regions  w 
in  snows  that  never  melt  under^  the  fierce  sun 
equator,  unless  it  be  •  from  the  desolating  action 
own  volcanic  fires,  might  seem  equally 
the  labors  of  the  husbandman.     And  all  comn 
tion  between  the  parts  of  the  long-extended 

4  Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres  et  Monumens  des  It 
digenes  de  1'Amerique  (Paris,  i8to),  p.  106.—  Malte 
—The  few  brief  sketches  which    M,  d.-   Humbokit 
scenery  of  the  Cordilleras,  showing  the  h.u 
well  as  of  a  philosopher,  make  us  regret  tjic  has  not 

given  the  results  of  his  obsen 
nutely  as  he  has  done  in  respe 


*  [Chimborazo  (21,  420  JH,  t 
peak  of  the  Andes,  is  surpj»(! 
AconcaRiw,  i«  Chili  ^ 

Beechey,  23,  9io  feet),  the  high, 


,,,sed  to  be  the  h:ghest 
,nmitc  in  PtfrUi  and  by 

^ptains  Fitzroy  and 
South  America  -ED  ] 


PHYSICAL    ASPECT   OF    THE  COUNTRY.       '  7 

might  be  thought  to  be  precluded  by  the  savage  char- 
acter of  the  region,  broken  up  by  precipices,  furious 
torrents,  and  impassable  qucbradas, — those  hideous 
rents  in  the  mountain  chain,  whose  depths  the  eye  of 
the  terrified  traveller,  as  he  winds  along  his  aerial  path- 
way, vainly  endeavors  to  fathom.5  Yet  the  industry, 
we  might  almost  say  the  genius,  of  the  Indian  was  suffi- 
cient to  overcome  all  these  impediments  of  Nature. 

By  a  judicious  system  of  canals  and  subterraneous 
aqueducts,  the  waste  places  on  the  coast  were  refreshed 
by  copious  streams,  that  clothed  them  in  fertility  and 
beauty.  Terraces  were  raised  upon  the  steep  sides  of 
the  Cordillera ;  and,  as  the  different  elevations  had  the 
effect  of  difference  of  latitude,  they  exhibited  in  regular 
gradation  every  variety  of  vegetable  form,  from  the 
stimulated  growth  of  the  tropics  to  the  temperate  pro- 
ducts of  a  northern  clime  ;  while  flocks  of  llamas — the 
Peruvian  sheep — wandered  with  their  shepherds  over 
the  broad,  snow-covered  wastes  on  the  crests  of  the 
sierra,  which  rose  beyond  the  limits  of  cultivation.  An 
industrious  population  settled  along  the  lofty  regions 
of  the  plateaus,  and  towns  and  hamlets,  clustering 
amidst  orchards  and  wide-spreading  gardens,  seemed 
suspended  in  the  air  far  above  trie  ordinary  elevation 
of  the  clouds.6  Intercourse  was  maintained  between 

s  "These  crevices  are  so  deep,"  says  M.  de  Humboldt,  with  his 
usual  vivacity  of  illustration,  "  that  if  Vesuvius  or  the  Puy  de  D&me 
were  seated  in  the  bottom  of  them,  they  would  not  rise  above  the 
level  of  the  ridges  of  the  neighboring  sierra."  Vues  des  Cordilleres, 
p.  9. 

6  The  plains  of  Quito  are  at  the  height  of  between  nine  and  ten 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  (See  Condamine,  Journal  d'up  Voyage 
a  I'fequateur  (Paris,  1751).  p.  48.)  Other  valleys  or  plateaus  in  this 
vast  group  of  mountains  reach  a  still  higher  elevation. 


8  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

these  numerous  settlements  by  means  of  the  great  roads 
which  traversed  the  mountain-passes  and  opened  an 
easy  communication  between  the  capital  and  the  re- 
motest extremities  of  the  empire.  * 

The  source  of  this  civilization  is  traced  to  the  valley 
of  Cuzco,  the  central  region  of  Peru,  as  its  name  im- 
plies.7 The  origin  of  the  Peruvian  empire,  like  the 
origin  of  all  nations,  except  the  very  few  which,  like 
our  own,  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  date  from  a 
civilized  period  and  people,  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  fable, 
which,  in  fact,  have  settled  as  darkly  round  its  history 
as  round  that  of  any  nation,  ancient  or  modern,  in  the 
Old  World.  According  to  the  tradition  most  familiar 
to  the  European  scholar,  the  time  was  when  the  ancient 
races  of  the  continent  were  all  plunged  in  deplorable 
barbarism ;  when  they  worshipped  nearly  every  object 
in  nature  indiscriminately,  made  war  their  pastime, 
and  feasted  on  the  flesh  of  their  slaughtered  captives. 
The  Sun,  the  great  luminary  and  parent  of  mankind, 
taking  compassion  on  their  degraded  condition,  sent 
two  of  his  children,  Manco  Capac  and  Mama  Oello 
Huaco,  to  gather  the  natives  into  communities  and 
teach  them  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  The  celestial 
pair,  brother  and  sister,  husband  and  wife,  advanced 
along  the  high  plains  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake 
Titicaca  to  about  the  sixteenth  degree  south.  They 
bore  with  them  a  golden  wedge,  and  were  directed  to 
take  up  their  residence  on  the  spot  where  the  sacred 
emblem  should  without  effort  sink  into  the  ground. 
They  proceeded  accordingly  but  a  short  distance,  as 

7  "Cuzco,  in  the  language  of  the  Incas,"  says  Garcilasso,  "signifies 
navel."  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  i,  cap.  18. 


SOURCES    OF  PERUVIAN  CIl'lI. IZATli >.\*.         Q 

far  as  the  valley  of  Cuzco,  the  spot  indicated  by  the 
performance  of  the  miracle,  since  there  the  wedge 
speedily  sank  into  the  earth  and  disappeared  forever. 
Here  the  children  of  the  Sun  established  their  resi- 
dence, and  soon  entered  upon  their  beneficent  mission 
among  the  rude  inhabitants  of  the  country ;  Manco 
Capac  teaching  the  men  the  arts  of  agriculture,  and 
Mama  Oello8  initiating  her  own  sex  in  the  mysteries 
of  weaving  and  spinning.  The  simple  people  lent  a 
willing  ear  to  the  messengers  of  Heaven,  and,  gathering 
together  in  considerable  numbers,  laid  the  foundations 
of  the  city  of  Cuzco.  The  same  wise  and  benevolertt 
maxims  which  regulated  the  conduct  of  the  first  Incas9 
descended  to  their  successors,  and  under  their  mild 
sceptre  a  community  gradually  extended  itself  along 
the  broad  surface  of  the  table-land,  which  asserted  its 

8  ULimj,  with  the  Peruvians,  signified  "  mother."   (Garcilasso.  Com. 
Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  4,  cap.  i.)     The  identity  of  this  term  with  that 
used  by  Europeans  is  a  curious  coincidence.     It  is  scarcely  more  so, 
however,  than  that  of  the  corresponding  word  papa,  which  with  the 
ancient  Mexicans  denoted  a  priest  of  high  rank ;  reminding  us  of  the 
piipti,  "  pope,"  of  the  Italians.  With  both,  the  term  seems  to  embrace 
in  its  most  comprehensive  sense  the  paternal  relation,  in  which  it  is 
more  familiarly  employed  by  most  of  the  nations  of  Europe.    Nor  was 
the  use  of  it  limited  to  modern  times,  being  applied  in  the  same  way 
both  by  Greeks  and  Romans ;  "  Ildinra  <t>i\t."  says  Nausikaa,  address- 
ing her  father,  in  the  simple  language  which  the  modern  versifiers  have 
thought  too  simple  to  render  literally. 

9  Inca  signified  king  or  lord.     Capac  meant  great  or  powerful.     It 
was  applied  to  several  of  the  successors  of  Manco,  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  epithet  Yupanqui,  signifying  rich  in  all  virtues,  was  added 
to  the  names  of  several  Incas.     (Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  41. — 
Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  2,  cap.  17.)     The  good  qualities 
commemorated  by  the  cognomens  of  most  of  the  Peruvian  princes 
afford  an  honorable,  though  not  altogether  unsuspicious,  tribute  to 
the  excellence  of  their  characters. 


I0  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE    lA'CAS. 

superiority  over  the  surrounding  tribes.  Such  is  the 
pleasing  picture  of  the  origin  of  the  Peruvian  mon- 
archy, as  portrayed  by  Garci lasso  de  la  Vega,  the  de- 
scendant of  the  Incas,  and  through  him  made  familiar 
to  the  European  reader.10 

But  this  tradition  is  only  one  of  several  current 
among  the  Peruvian  Indians,  and  probably  not  the  one 
most  generally  received.  Another  legend  speaks  of 
certain  white  and  bearded  men,  who,  advancing  from 
the  shores  of  Lake  Titicaca,  established  an  ascendency 
over  the  natives  and  imparted  to  them  the  blessings  of 
civilization.  It  may  remind  us  of  the  tradition  existing 
among  the  Aztecs  in  respect  to  Quetzalcoatl,  the  good 
deity,,  who  with  a  similar  garb  and  aspect  came  up  the 
great  plateau  from  the  east  on  a  like  benevolent  mission 
to  the  natives.  The  analogy  is  the  more  remarkable 
as  there  is  no  trace  of  any  communication  with,  or 
even  knowledge  of,  each  other  to  be  found  in  the  two 
nations.11 

10  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  I,  cap.  9-16. 

11  These  several  traditions,  all  of  a  very  puerile  character,  are  to  be 
found  in  Ondegardo,  Relacion  Segunda,  MS., — Sarmiento,  Relacion, 
MS.,  cap.  I, — Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  105, — Conquista  i  Pobla- 
cion  del  Piru,  MS., — Declaracion  de  los  Presidente  £  Oydores  de  la 
Audiencia  Reale  del  Peru,  MS., — all  of  them  authorities  contemporary 
with  the  Conquest.    The  story  of  the  bearded  white  men  finds  its 
place  in  most  of  their  legends.* 


*  [Such  legends  will  not  be  considered  "  puerile,"  nor  will  their 
similarity  with  those  of  remote  races  seem  inexplicable,  when  they  are 
viewed  in  their  true  light,  as  embodying  conceptions  of  nature  formed 
by  the  human  mind  in  the  early  stages  of  its  development.  Thus 
considered,  "  the  very  myths,"  as  Mr.  Tylor  remarks,  "  that  were  dis- 
carded as  lying  fables,  prove  to  be  sources  of  history  in  ways  that  their 
makers  and  transmitters  little  dreamed  of."  The  Peruvian  traditions 


SOURCES    OF  PERUVIAN  CIVILIZATION.       \\ 

The  date  usually  assigned  for  these  extraordinary 
events  was  about  four  hundred  years  before  the  coming 
of  the  Spaniards,  or  early  in  the  twelfth  century."  But, 
however  pleasing  to  the  imagination,  and  however  pop- 
ular, the  legend  of  Manco  Capac,  it  requires  but  little 
reflection  to  show  its  improbability,  even  when  divested 
of  supernatural  accompaniments.  On  the  shores  of 
Lake  Titicaca  extensive  ruins  exist  at  the  present  day, 
which  the  Peruvians  themselves  acknowledge  to  be  of 
older  date  than  the  pretended  advent  of  the  Incas,  and 
to  have  furnished  them  with  the  models  of  their  archi- 
tecture.'3 The  date  of  their  appearance,  indeed,  is 

12  Some  writers  carry  back  the  date  five  hundred,  or  even  five  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  years  before  the  Spanish  invasion.  (Balboa,  Histoire 
du  Pe>ou,chap.  i. — Velasco.  Histoire  du  Royaume  de  Quito,  torn.  i. 
p.  81.— Ambo  auct.  ap.  Relations  et  M^moires  originaux  pour  servir 
a  1' Histoire  de  la  Decouverte  de  l'Ame>ique,  par  Ternaux-Compans 
(Paris,  1840).)  In  the  Report  of  the  Royal  Audience  of  Peru,  the 
epoch  is* more  modestly  fixed  at  two  hundred  years  Uefore  the  Con- 
quest. Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS. 

•3  "  Otras  cosas  ay  mas  que  dezir  deste  Tiaguanaco,  que  passo  por 
no  detenerme :  concluyCdo  que  yo  para  mi  tengo  esta  antigualla  por 
la  mas  antigua  de  todo  el  Peru.  Y  assi  se  tiene  que  antes  q"  los  Ingas 
reynassen  con  muchos  tiempos  estavan  hechos  algunos  edificios  des- 
tos:  porque  yo  he  oydo  afirmar  a  Indios,  que  los  Ingas  hizieron  los 
edificios  grandes  del  Cuzco  por  la  forma  que  vieron  tener  la  murulla 
o  pared  que  se  vee  en  este  pueblo."  (Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica.  cap. 
105.)  See  also  Garcilasso  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  3,  cap.  i),  who 
gives  an  account  of  these  remains,  on  the  authority  of  a  Spanish 


seem,  in  particular,  to  deserve  a  closer  investigation  than  they  have 
yet  received.  Besides  the  authorities  cited  by  Prescott,  the  relations 
of  Christoval  de  Molina  and  the  Indian  Salcamayhua,  translated  by 
Mr.  Markham,  are  entitled  to  mention,  both  for  the  minuteness  and 
the  variations  with  which  they  present  the  leading  features  of  the  same 
oft-repeated  nature-myth. — ED.] 


12  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

manifestly  irreconcilable  with  their  subsequent  history. 
No  account  assigns  to  the  Inca  dynasty  more  than 
thirteen  princes  before  the  Conquest.  But  this  number 
is  altogether  too  small  to  have  spread  over  four  hundred 
years,  and  would  not  carry  back  the  foundations  of  the 
monarchy,  on  any  probable  computation,  beyond  two 
centuries  and  a  half, — an  antiquity  not  incredible  in 
itself,  and  which,  it  may  be  remarked,  does  not  precede 
by  more  than  half  a  century  the  alleged  foundation  of 
the  capital  of  Mexico.  The  fiction  of  Manco  Capac 
and  his  sister-wife  was  devised,  no  doubt,  at  a  later 
period,  to  gratify  the  vanity  of  the  Peruvian  monarchs, 
and  to  give  additional  sanction  to  their  authority  by 
deriving  it  from  a  celestial  origin.* 

ecclesiastic,  which  might  compare,  for  the  marvellous,  with  any  of  the 
legends  of  his  order.  Other  ruins  of  similar  traditional  antiquity  are 
noticed  by  Herrera  (Historia  general  de  los  Hechos  de  los  Caste- 
llanos  en  las  Islas  y  Tierra  Firme  del  Mar  Oceano  (Madrid.  1730), 
dec.  6,  lib.  6,  cap.  9).  McCulloh,  in  some  sensible  reflections  on  the 
origin  of  the  Peruvian  civilization,  adduces,  on  the  authority  of  Gar- 
cilasso  de  la  Vega,  the  famous  temple  of  Pachacamac,  not  far  from 
Lima,  as  an  example  of  architecture  more  ancient  than  that  of  the 
Incas.  (Researches,  Philosophical  and  Antiquarian,  concerning  the 
Aboriginal  History  of  America  (Baltimore,  1829).  p.  405.)  This,  if 
true,  would  do  much  to  confirm  the  views  in  our  text.  But  McCulloh 
is  led  into  an  error  by  his  blind  guide,  Rycaut,  the  translator  of  Gar- 
cilasso,  for  the  latter  does  not  speak  of  the  temple  as  existing  before 
the  time  of  the  Incas,  but  before  the  time  when  the  country  was  con- 
quered by  the  Incas.  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i.  lib  6,  cap.  30. 


*  [This  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  story  is  scarcely  more  plausible 
or  philosophical  than  that  of  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  who  conjectures 
that  Manco  Capac  "  may  have  been  some  Indian  of  good  understand- 
ing, prudence,  and  judgment,  who  appreciated  the  great  simplicity 
of  those  nations,  and  saw  the  necessity  they  had  for  instruction  and 


SOURCES    OF   PERUVIAN  CIVILIZATION.       jj 

We  may  reasonably  conclude  that  there  existed  in 
the  country  a  race  advanced  in  civilization  before  the 
time  of  the  Incas  ;  and,  in  conformity  with  nearly  every 

teaching  in  natural  life.     He  may  have  invented  a  fable  with  sagacity 
and  astuteness,  that  he  might  be  respected ;  saying  that  he  and  his 
wife  were  children  of  the  Sun.  who  had  come  from  Heaven,  and  that 
their  Father  had  sent  them  to  teach  and  do  good  to  the  people. 
The  belief  in  the  fable  of  the  Ynca's  origin  would  be  confirmed  by 
the  benefits  and  privileges  he  conferred  on  the  Indians,  until  they  at 
last  firmly  believed  that  he  was  the  Child  of  the  Sun.  come  from 
Heaven."     (Markham's   trans.,  i.  94.)     Mr.  Markham   pronounces 
"  all  this  sensible  enough,"  and  it  at  least  indicates  the  true  spirit,  if 
not  the  right  method,  of  investigation.     But  a  wider  comparison  of 
popular  traditions  has  led  to  a  general  rejection,  in  such  cases  as  the 
pn -s, •nt,  of  the  idea  of  conscious  invention— whether  as  idle  fable  or 
designed  imposture— to  account  for  their  origin.     The  only  question 
,  in  regard  to  such  a  story  is  whether  it  is  to  be  considered  as  purely 
mythical  or  as  the  mythical  adaptation  or  development  of  an  historical 
fact.     In  this  instance  Dr.  Brinton  takes  the  latter  view,  asserting  that 
Manco  Capac  was  "a  real  character."  "first  of  the  historical  Incas," 
"  the  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg  of  their  reigning  family,"  who  "  flourished 
about  the  eleventh  century."  and  to  whom  ••  tradition  has  transferred 
a  portion  of  the  story  of  Viracocha."  the  Peruvian  deity.     (Myths  of 
the  New  World.  179.)     Mr.  Tylor,  on  the  other  hand.  afte.r  noticing 
the  legend  of  the  Muyscas,  a  neighboring  people,  in  which  Bochica 
and  Huythaca  are  evident  personifications  of  the  sun  and  moon,  says, 
"  Like  to  this  in  meaning,  though  different  in  fancy,  is  the  civilization- 
myth  of  the  Incas.  ...  In  after-ages  the  Sun  and  Moon  were  still 
represented  in  rule  and  religion  by  the  Inca  and  his  sister-wife,  con- 
tinuing the  mighty  race  of  Manco  Capac  and  Mama  Oello.     But  the 
two  great  ancestors  returned  when  their  earthly  work  was  done  to 
become,  what  we  may  see  they  had  never  ceased  to  be.  the  sun  and 
moon  themselves."     (Primitive  Culture,  i.  319.)     It  would  not  be  in- 
consistent with  a  full  acceptance  of  this  theory  to  consider  all  such 
myths  as  veiling  the  real  existence  of  men  of  superior  endowments,  to 
horn  civilization  must  everywhere  have  owed  its  earliest  develop- 
ments ;  but  to  link  them  with  the  actual  history  of  these  personages 
would  require  very  different  evidence  from  what  exists  in  the  present *' 
or  any  similar  case. — ED.] 

Peru.— VOL.  I.  2 


,4  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE    INC  AS. 

tradition,  we  may  derive  this  race  from  the  neighborhood 
of  Lake  Titicaca;14  a  conclusion  strongly  confirmed  by 
the  imposing  architectural  remains  which  still  endure, 
after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years,  on  its  borders.  Who 
this  race  were,  and  whence  they  came,  may  afford  a 
tempting  theme  for  inquiry  to  the  speculative  antiqua- 
rian. But  it  is  a  land  of  darkness  that  lies  far  beyond 
the  domain  of  history.15 

M  Among  other  authorities  for  this  tradition,  see  Sarmiento.  Rela- 
cion,  MS.,  cap.  3, 4,— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5.  lib.  3,  cap.  6,— 
Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS.,— Zarate,  Historia  del  Descubrimiento  y 
de  la  Conquista  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  10.  ap.  Barcia,  Historiadores 
primitives  de  las  Indias  occidentals  (Madrid,  i?49).  torn.  3-— In 
most,  not  all,  of  the  traditions,  Manco  Capac  is  recognized  as  the 
name  of  the  founder  of  the  Peruvian  monarchy,  though  his  history 
and  character  are  related  with  sufficient  discrepancy. 

'5  Mr.  Ranking, 

"  Who  can  deep  mysteries  unriddle 
As  easily  as  thread  a  needle," 

finds  it  "  highly  probable  that  the  first  Inca  of  Peru  was  a  son  of  the 
Grand  Khan  Kublai"  !  (Historical  Researches  on  the  Conquest  of 
Peru,  etc.,  by  the  Moguls  (London,  1827),  p.  170.)  'The  coincidences 
are  curious,  though  we  shall  hardly  jump  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
adventurous  author.  Every  scholar  will  agree  with  Humboldt  in  the 
wish  that  "  some  learned  traveller  would  visit  the  borders  of  the  lake 
of  Titicaca,  the  district  of  Callao,  and  the  high  plains  of  Tiahuanaco, 
the  theatre  of  the  ancient  American  civilization."  (Vues  des  Cor- 
dilleres,  p.  199.)  And  yet  the  architectural  monuments  of  the  abo- 
rigines, hitherto  brought  to  light,  have  furnished  few  materials  for  a 
bridge  of  communication  across  the  dark  gulf  that  still  separates  the 
Old  World  from  the  New.* 


*  [The  regions  mentioned  by  Humboldt  were  visited  in  1847  by  a 
French  savant,  M.  Angrand,  who  brought  away  carefully-prepared 
plans  of  many  of  the  ruins,  of  which  a  description  is  given  by  Desjar^ 
dins  (Le  Perou  avant  la  Conquete  espagnole),  tending  to  confirm  the 
conclusions  drawn  from  previous  sources  of  information,  that  a  civili- 


EMPIRE    OF    THE    INCAS  15 

The  same  mists  that  hang  round  the  origin  of  the 
Incas  continue  to  settle  on  their  subsequent  annals ; 
and  so  imperfect  were  the  records  employed  by  the 
Peruvians,  and  so  confused  and  contradictory  their 
traditions,  that  the  historian  finds  no  firm  footing  on 
which  to  stand  till  within  a  century  of  the  Spanish 
conquest.16  At  first,  the  progress  of  the  Peruvians 

16  A  good  deal  within  a  century,  to  say  truth.  Garcilasso  and  Sar- 
miento,  for  example,  the  two  ancient  authorities  in  highest  repute, 
have  scarcely  a  point  of  contact  in  their  accounts  of  the  earlier  Peru- 
vian princes  ;  the  former  representing  the  sceptre  as  gliding  down  in 
peaceful  succession  from  hand  to  hand  through  an  unbroken  dynasty, 
while  the  latter  garnishes  his  tale  with  as  many  conspiracies,  deposi- 


zation,  superior  to  that  of  the  Incas,  had  passed  away  long  before  the 
period  of  the  Spanish  conquest.  A  work  announced  as  in  the  press, 
by  Mr.  Hutchinson,  formerly  English  consul  in  Peru,  may  be  expected 
to  give  the  fruits  of  more  recent  explorations.  But  it  may  be  safely 
predicted  that  no  discoveries  that  may  be  made  will  ever  establish  the 
fact  of  a  communication  at  some  remote  period  between  the  two  hemi- 
spheres. It  may  be  doubted,  indeed,  whether  the  whole  inquiry,  so 
persistently  pursued,  has  not  sprung  from  an  illusion.  Had  the  East- 
ern Continent  been  discovered  by  a  voyager  from  the  Western,  it 
would  perhaps  have  been  assumed  that  the  latter  had  furnished  those 
swarms  which  afterwards  passed  through  Asia  into  Europe,  and  that 
here  was  the  original  seat  of  the  human  family  and  the  spot  where 
culture  had  first  begun  to  dawn.  Mr.  James  S.  Wilson's  discovery, 
on  the  coast  of  Ecuador,  of  articles  of  pottery  and  of  gold,  "  in  a 
stratum  of  mould  beneath  the  sea-level,  and  covered  by  several  feet  of 
clay,"  proves,  according  to  Murchison,  that  "  within  the  human  period 
the  lands  on  the  west  coast  of  equatorial  America  were  depressed  and 
submerged  ;  and  that  after  the  accumulation  of  marine  clays  above 
the  terrestrial  relics  the  whole  coast  was  elevated  to  its  present  posi- 
tion." If,  then,  the  existence  not  only  of  the  human  race,  but  of 
human  art,  in  America,  antedates  the  present  conformation  of  the 
continent,  how  futile  must  be  every  attempt  to  connect  its  early  history 
with  that  of  Egypt  or  of  India!— ED  ] 


X6  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

seems  to  have  been  slow,  and  almost  imperceptible. 
By  their  wise  and  temperate  policy  they  gradually  won 
over  the  neighboring  tribes  to  their  dominion,  as  these 
latter  became  more  and  more  convinced  of  the  benefits 
of  a  just  and  well-regulated  government.  As  they 
grew  stronger,  they  were  enabled  to  rely  more  directly 
on  force ;  but,  still  advancing  under  cover  of  the  same 
beneficent  pretexts  employed  by  their  predecessors, 
they  proclaimed  peace  and  civilization  at  the  point  of 
the  sword.  The  rude  nations  of  the  country,  without 
any  principle  of  cohesion  among  themselves,  fell  one 
after  another  before  the  victorious  arm  of  the  Incas. 
Yet  it  was  not  till  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century 
that  the  famous  Topa  Inca  Yupanqui,  grandfather  of 
the  monarch  who  occupied  the  throne  at  the  coming  of 
the  Spaniards,  led  his  armies  across  the  terrible  desert 
of  Atacama,  and,  penetrating  to  the  southern  region 
of  Chili,  fixed  the  permanent  boundary  of  his  domin- 
ions at  the  river  Maule.  His  son,  Huayna  Capac,  pos- 
sessed of  ambition  and  military  talent  fully  equal  to 
his  father's,  marched  along  the  Cordillera  towards  the 
north,  and,  pushing  his  conquests  across  the  equator, 
added  the  powerful  kingdom  of  Quito  to  the  empire 
of  Peru.17 

tions,  and  revolutions  as  belong  to  most  barbarous  and,  unhappily, 
most  civilized  communities.  When  to  these  two  are  added  the  various 
writers,  contemporary  and  of  the  succeeding  age,  who  have  treated 
of  the  Peruvian  annals,  we  shall  find  ourselves  in  such  a  conflict  of 
traditions  that  criticism  is  lost  in  conjecture.  Yet  this  uncertainty  as 
to  historical  events  fortunately  does  not  extend  to  the  history  of  arts 
and  institutions  which  were  in  existence  on  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards. 
'?  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  57,  64.— Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru. 
MS.— Velasco,  Hist,  de  Quito,  p.  59.— Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real..  MS,— 


EMPIRE    OF    THE    TNCAS.  17 

The  ancient  city  of  Cuzco,  meanwhile,  had  been 
gradually  advancing  in  wealth  and  population,  till  it 
had  become  the  worthy  metropolis  of  a  great  and  flour- 
ishing monarchy.  It  stood  in  a  beautiful  valley  on  an 
elevated  region  of  the  plateau,  which  among  the  Alps 
would  have  been  buried  in  eternal  snows,  but  which 
within  the  tropics  enjoyed  a  genial  and  salubrious  tem- 
perature. Towards  the  north  it  was  defended  by  a 
lofty  eminence,  a  spur  of  the  great  Cordillera;  and 
the  city  was  traversed  by  a  river,  or  rather  a  small 
stream,  over  which  bridges  of  timber,  covered  with 
heavy  slabs  of  stone,  furnished  an  easy  means  of  com- 
munication with  the  opposite  banks.  The  streets  were 
long  and  narrow,  the  houses  low,  and  those  of  the 
poorer  sort  built  of  clay  and  reeds.  But  Cuzco  was 
the  royal  residence,  and  was  adorned  with  the  ample 
dwellings  of  the  great  nobility  ;  and  the  massy  frag- 
ments still  incorporated  in  many  of  the  modern 
edifices  bear  testimony  to  the  size  and  solidity  of  the 
ancient.'8 

Garcilasso,  Com.  Real..  Parte  i.  lib.  7,  cap.  18,  19;  lib.  8,  cap.  5-8. — 
The  last  historian,  and,  indeed,  some  others,  refer  the  conquest  of 
Chili  to  Yupanqui,  the  father  of  Topa  Inca.  The  exploits  of  the  two 
monarchs  are  so  blended  together  by  the  different  annalists  as  in  a 
manner  to  confound  their  personal  identity. 

18 Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  7,  cap.  8-it. — Cieza  de  Leon, 
Cronica,  cap.  92. — "  El  Cuzco  tuuo  gran  manera  y  calidad,  deuio  ser 
fundada  por  gente  de  gran  ser.  Auia  grandes  calles,  saluo  q"  era 
angostas,  y  las  casas  hechas  de  piedra  pura  c6  tan  lindas  junturas,  q 
illustra  el  antiguedad  del  edificio,  pues  estauan  piedras  tan  grade; 
muy  bien  assentadas."  (Ibid.,  ubi  supra.)  Compare  with  this  Mil- 
ler's account  of  the  city  as  existing  at  the  present  day  :  "  The  walls 
of  many  of  the  houses  have  remained  unaltered  for  centuries.  The 
great  size  of  the  stones,  the  variety  of  their  shapes,  and  the  inimitable 
2* 


!8  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

The  health  of  the  city  was  promoted  by  spacious 
openings  and  squares,  in  which  a  numerous  population 
from  the  capital  and  the  distant  country  assembled  to 
celebrate  the  high  festivals  of  their  religion.  For 
Cuzco  was  the  "Holy  City;"  '9  and  the  great  temple 
of  the  Sun,  to  which  pilgrims  resorted  from  the  farthest 
borders  of  the  empire,  was  the  most  magnificent  struc- 
ture in  the  New  World,  and  unsurpassed,  probably,  in 
the  costliness  of  its  decorations  by  any  building  in  the 
Old. 

Towards  the  north,  on  the  sierra  or  rugged  eminence 
already  noticed,  rose  a  strong  fortress,  the  remains  of 
which  at  the  present  day,  by  their  vast  size,  excite  the 
admiration  of  the  traveller.20  It  was  defended  by  a 
single  wall  of  great  thickness,  and  twelve  hundred  feet 
long  on  the  side  facing  the  city,  where  the  precipitous 
character  of  the  ground  was  of  itself  almost  sufficient 
for  its  defence.  On  the  other  quarter,  where  the 
approaches  were  less  difficult,  it  was  protected  by  two 
other  semicircular  walls  of  the  same  length  as  the  pre- 
ceding. They  were  separated  a  considerable  distance 
from  one  another  and  from  the  fortress ;  and  the  inter- 
workmanship  they  display,  give  to  the  city  that  interesting  air  of  an- 
tiquity and  romance  which  fills  the  mind  with  pleasing  though  painful 
veneration.'1  Memoirs  of  Gen.  Miller  in  the  Service  of  the  Republic 
of  Peru  (London,  1829,  2d  ed.),  vol.  ii.  p.  225. 

*9  "  La  Imperial  Ciudad  de  Cozco,  que  la  adoravan  los  Indies,  como 
a  Cosa  Sagrada.' '  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i.  lib.  3,  cap.  20.— 
Also  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 

30  See,  among  others,  the  Memoirs,  above  cited,  of  Gen.  Miller, 
which  contain  a  minute  and  very  interesting  notice  of  modern  Cuzco. 
(Vol.  ii.  p.  223,  et  seq.)  Ulloa,  who  visited  the  country  in  the  middle 
of  the  last  century,  is  unbounded  in  his  expressions  of  admiration. 
Voyage  to  South  America,  Eng.  trans.  (London,  1806),  book  vii.  ch.  12. 


EMPIRE    OF    THE    INC  AS.  19 

vening  ground  was  raised  so  that  the  walls  afforded  a 
breastwork  for  the  troops  stationed  there  in  times  of 
assault.  The  fortress  consisted  of  three  towers,  de- 
tached from  one  another.  One  was  appropriated  to 
the  Inca,  and  was  garnished  with  the  sumptuous  deco- 
rations befitting  a  royal  residence  rather  than  a  military 
post.  The  other  two  were  held  by  the  garrison,  drawn 
from  the  Peruvian  nobles,  and  commanded  by  an  officer 
of  the  blood  royal ;  for  the  position  was  of  too  great 
importance  to  be  intrusted  to  inferior  hands.  The  hill 
was  excavated  below  the  towers,  and  several  subter- 
raneous galleries  communicated  with  the  city  and  the 
palaces  of  the  Inca." 

The  fortress,  the  walls,  and  the  galleries  were  all 
built  of  stone,  the  heavy  blocks  of  which  were  not  laid 
in  regular  courses,  but  so  disposed  that  the  small  ones 
might  fill  up  the  interstices  between  the  great.  They 
formed  a  sort  of  rustic  work,  being  rough-hewn  except 
towards  the  edges,  which  were  finely  wrought ;  and, 
though  no  cement  was  used,  the  several  blocks  were 
adjusted  with  so  much  exactness  and  united  so  closely 
that  it  was  impossible  to  introduce  even  the  blade  of  a 
knife  between  them."  Many  of  these  stones  were  of 

™  Betanzos,  Suma  y  Narracion  de  los  Yngas,  MS.,  cap.  12. — Gar- 
cilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  7,  cap.  27-29. — The  demolition  of 
the  fortress,  begun  immediately  after  the  Conquest,  provoked  the 
remonstrance  of  more  than  one  enlightened  Spaniard,  whose  voice, 
however,  was  impotent  against  the  spirit  of  cupidity  and  violence. 
See  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  48. 

»  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. — Inscripciones,  Medallas,  Templos,  Edificios, 
Antigiiedades,  y  Monumentos  del  Peru,  MS.  This  manuscript,  which 
formerly  belonged  to  Dr.  Robertson,  and  which  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum,  is  the  work  of  some  unknown  author,  somewhere  probably 
about  the  time  of  Charles  III., — a  period  when,  as  the  sagacious 


20  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

vast  size;    some  of  them  being  full  thirty-eight  feet 
long,  by  eighteen  broad,  and  six  feet  thick.'3 

We  are  filled  with  astonishment  when  we  consider 
that  these  enormous  masses  were  hewn  from  their  native 
bed  and  fashioned  into  shape  by  a  people  ignorant  of 
the  use  of  iron ;  that  they  were  brought  from  quarries, 
from  four  to  fifteen  leagues  distant,34  without  the  aid 
of  beasts  of  burden ;  were  transported  across  rivers 
and  ravines,  raised  to  their  elevated  position  on  the 
sierra,  and  finally  adjusted  there  with  the  nicest  accu- 
racy, without  the  knowledge  of  tools  and  machinery 
familiar  to  the  European.  Twenty  thousand  men  are 
said  to  have  been  employed  on  this  great  structure,  and 
fifty  years  consumed  in  the  building.25  However  this 
may  be,  we  see  in  it  the  workings  of  a  despotism  which 
had  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  its  vassals  at  its  absolute 
disposal,  and  which,  however  mild  in  its  general  char- 
acter, esteemed  these  vassals,  when  employed  in  its 
service,  as  lightly  as  the  brute  animals  for  which  they 
served  as  a  substitute. 

scholar  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  a  copy  of  it  remarks,  a  spirit  of 
sounder  criticism  was  visible  in  the  Castilian  historians. 

23  Acosta,  Naturall  and  Morall  Historic  of  the  East  and  West 
Indies,  Eng.  trans.  (London,  1604),  lib.  6,  cap.  14.— He  measured 
the  stones  himself.— See  also  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  loc.  cit. 

«*  Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  93.— Ondegardo.  Rel.  Seg.  MS.— 
Many  hundred  blocks  of  granite  may  still  be  seen,  it  is  said,  in  an 
unfinished  state,  in  a  quarry  near  Cuzco. 

=s  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  48.— Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.  MS. 
—Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  7,  cap.  27,  28.— The  Spaniards, 
puzzled  by  the  execution  of  so  great  a  work  with  such  apparently  in- 
adequate means,  referred  it  all,  in  their  summary  way,  to  the  Devil  • 
an  opinion  which  Garcilasso  seems  willing  to  indorse.  The  author  of 
the  Antig.  y  Monumentos  del  Peru,  MS.,  rejects  this  notion  with 
becoming  gravity. 


ROYAL    FAMILY.  21 

The  fortress  of  Cuzco  was  but  part  of  a  system  of 
fortifications  established  throughout  their  dominions  by 
the  Incas.  This  system  formed  a  prominent  feature  in 
their  military  policy ;  but  before  entering  on  this  latter 
it  will  be  proper  to  give  the  reader  some  view  of  their 
civil  institutions  and  scheme  of  government. 

The  sceptre  of  the  Incas,  if  we  may  credit  their  his- 
torian, descended  in  unbroken  succession  from  father 
to  son,  through  their  whole  dynasty.  Whatever  we 
may  think  of  this,  it  appears  probable  that  the  right  of 
inheritance  might  be  claimed  by  the  eldest  son  of  the 
Ci>yat  or  lawful  queen,  as  she  was  styled,  to  distinguish 
her  from  the  host  of  concubines  who  shared  the  affec- 
tions of  the  sovereign.36  The  queen  was  further  dis- 
tinguished, at  least  in  later  reigns,  by  the  circumstance 
of  being  selected  from  the  sisters  of  the  Inca,  an 
arrangement  which,  however  revolting  to  the  ideas  of 
civilized  nations,  was  recommended  to  the  Peruvians  by 
its  securing  an  heir  to  the  crown  of  the  pure  heaven-born 
race,  uncontaminated  by  any  mixture  of  earthly  mould.117 

»*  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  7. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real..  Parte 
i,  lib.  i,  cap.  26. — Acosta  speaks  of  the  eldest  brother  of  the  Inca  as 
succeeding  in  preference  to  the  son  (lib.  6,  cap.  12).  He  may  have 
confounded  the  Peruvian  with  the  Aztec  usage.  The  Report  of  the 
Royal  Audience  states  that -a  brother  succeeded  in  default  of  a  son. 
Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS. 

»7  "  Et  soror  et  conjux."  According  to  Garcilasso,  the  heir-apparent 
always  married  a  sister.  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  4,  cap.  9.)  Onde- 
gardo  notices  this  as  an  innovation  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. (Relacion  Primera,  MS.)  The  historian  of  the  Incas,  however, 
is  confirmed  in  his  extraordinary  statement  by  Sarmiento.  Relacion, 
MS.,  cap.  7*  

*  ["  The  sister-marriage  of  the  Incas,"  remarks  Mr.  Tylor,  "  had  in 
their  religion  at  once  a  meaning  and  a  justification," — as  typifying, 


22  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE   INCAS. 

In  his  early  years,  the  royal  offspring  was  intrusted 
to  the  care  of  the  amautas,  or  "wise  men,"  as  the 
teachers  of  Peruvian  science  were  called,  who  instructed 
him  in  such  elements  of  knowledge  as  they  possessed, 
and  especially  in  the  cumbrous  ceremonial  of  their 
religion,  in  which  he  was  to  take  a  prominent  part. 
Great  care  was  also  bestowed  on  his  military  education, 
of  the  last  importance  in  a  state  which,  with  its  profes- 
sions of  peace  and  good  will,  was  ever  at  war  for  the 
acquisition  of  empire. 

In  this  military  school  he  was  educated  with  such  of 
the  Inca  nobles  as  were  nearly  of  his  own  age ;  for  the 
sacred  name  of  Inca — a  fruitful  source  of  obscurity  in 
their  annals — was  applied  indifferently  to  all  who  de- 
scended by  the  male  line  from  the  founder  of  the  mon- 
archy.28 At  the  age  of  sixteen  the  pupils  underwent  a 
public  examination,  previous  to  their  admission  to  what 
may  be  called  the  order  of  chivalry.  This  examination 
was  conducted  by  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  illus- 
trious Incas.  The  candidates  were  required  to  show 
their  prowess  in  the  athletic  exercises  of  the  warrior ; 
in  wrestling  and  boxing,  in  running  such  long  courses 
as  fully  tried  their  agility  and  strength,  in  severe  fasts 
of  several  days'  duration,  and  in  mimic  combats,  which, 
although  the  weapons  were  blunted,  were  always  at- 
tended with  wounds,  and  sometimes  with  death.  During 
28  Garcilasso.  Com.  Real.,  Parte  I.  lib.  i,  cap.  26. 


namely,  the  supposed  relation  of  the  sun  and  moon,  like  the  Egyptian 
Osiris  and  Isis.  (Primitive  Culture,  i.  261.)  It  may,  however,  indi- 
cate also  different  ideas  from  those  of  our  race  in  regard  to  consan- 
guinity. See  Morgan,  Systems  of  Consanguinity  and  Affinity  of  the 
Human  Family  (Smithsonian  Contributions). ED.] 


XOYAL    FAMILY.  23 

this  trial,  which  lasted  thirty  days,  the  royal  neophyte 
fared  no  better  than  his  comrades,  sleeping  on  the  bare 
ground,  going  unshod,  and  wearing  a  mean  attire, — 
a  mode  of  life,  it  was  supposed,  which  might  tend  to 
inspire  him  with  more  sympathy  with  the  destitute. 
With  all  this  show  of  impartiality,  however,  it  will 
probably  be  doing  no  injustice  to  the  judges  to  suppose 
that  a  politic  discretion  may  have  somewhat  quickened 
their  perceptions  of  the  real  merits  of  the  heir-apparent. 
At  the  end  of  the  appointed  time,  the  candidates 
selected  as  worthy  of  the  honors  of  their  barbaric 
chivalry  were  presented  to  the  sovereign,  who  conde- 
scended to  take  a  principal  part  in  the  ceremony  of 
inauguration.  He  began  with  a  brief  discourse,  in 
which,  after  congratulating  the  young  aspirants  on  the 
proficiency  they  had  shown  in  martial  exercises,  he  re- 
minded them  of  the  responsibilities  attached  to  their 
birth  and  station,  and,  addressing  them  affectionately 
as  "children  of  the  Sun,"  he  exhorted  them  to  imitate 
their  great  progenitor  in  his  glorious  career  of  benefi- 
cence to  mankind.  The  novices  then  drew  near,  and, 
kneeling  one  by  one  before  the  Inca,  he  pierced  their 
ears  with  a  golden  bodkin  ;  and  this  was  suffered  to 
remain  there  till  an  opening  had  been  made  large  enough 
for  the  enormous  pendants  which  were  peculiar  to  their 
order,  and  which  gave  them,  with  the  Spaniards,  the 
name  of  orejones.**  This  ornament  was  so  massy  in  the 

•»  From  oreja,  "  ear." — "  Los  caballeros  de  la  sangre  Real  tenian 
orejas  horadadas,  y  de  ellas  colgando  grandes  rodetes  de  plata  y  oro : 
llamaronles  por  esto  los  orejones  los  Castellanos  la  primera  vez  que 
los  vieron."  (Montesinos,  Memorias  antiguas  historiales  del  Peru, 
MS.,  lib.  2,  cap.  6.)  The  ornament,  which  was  in  the  form  of  a 
wheel,  did  not  depend  from  the  ear,  but  was  inserted  in  the  gristle  of 


24  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE   INCAS. 

ears  of  the  sovereign  that  the  cartilage  was  distended 
by  it  nearly  to  the  shoulder,  producing  what  seemed  a 
monstrous  deformity  in  the  eyes  of  the  Europeans, 
though,  under  the  magical  influence  of  fashion,  it  was 
regarded  as  a  beauty  by  the  natives. 

When  this  operation  was  performed,  one  of  the  most 
venerable  of  the  nobles  dressed  the  feet  of  the  candi- 
dates in  the  sandals  worn  by  the  order,  which  may 
remind  us  of  the  ceremony  of  buckling  on  the  spurs 
of  the  Christian  knight.  They  were  then  allowed  to 
assume  the  girdle  or  sash  around  the  loins,  correspond- 
ing with  the  toga  virilis  of  the  Romans,  and  intimating 
that  they  had  reached  the  season  of  manhood.  Their 
heads  were  adorned  with  garlands  of  flowers,  which,  by 
their  various  colors,  were  emblematic  of  the  clemency 
and  goodness  that  should  grace  the  character  of  every 
true  warrior ;  and  the  leaves  of  an  evergreen  plant  were 
mingled  with  the  flowers,  to  show  that  these  virtues 
should  endure  without  end.30  The  prince's  head  was 
further  ornamented  by  a  fillet,  or  tasselled  fringe,  of  a 
yellow  color,  made  of  the  fine  threads  of  the  vicuf.a 
wool,  which  encircled  the  forehead  as  the  peculiar  in- 
signia of  the  heir-apparent.  The  great  body  of  the 
Inca  nobility  next  made  their  appearance,  and,  begin- 
ning with  those  nearest  of  kin,  knelt  down  before  the 
prince  and  did  him  homage  as  successor  to  the  crown. 

It,  and  was  as  large  as  an  orange.  "  La  hacen  tan  ancha  como  una 
gran  rosca  de  naranja ;  los  Senores  i  Principales  traian  aquellas  roscas 
de  oro  fino  en  las  orejas."  (Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS.— Also  Gar- 
cilasso.  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  cap.  22.)  "  The  larger  the  hole."  says 
one  of  the  old  Conquerors,  "  the  more  of  a  gentleman !"  Pedro 
Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 
3°  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  6,  cap.  37. 


ROYAL    FAMILY. 


The  whole  assembly  then  moved  to  the  great  square  of 
the  capital,  where  songs  and  dances  and  other  public 
festivities  closed  the  important  ceremonial  of  the 


The  reader  will  be  less  surprised  by  the  resemblance 
which  this  ceremonial  bears  to  the  inauguration  of  a 
Christian  knight  in  the  feudal  ages,  if  he  reflects  that  a 
similar  analogy  may  be  traced  in  the  institutions  of 
other  people  more  or  less  civilized,  and  that  it  is  natural 
that  nations  occupied  with  the  one  great  business  of 
war  should  mark  the  period  when  the  preparatory 
education  for  it  was  ended,  by  similar  characteristic 
ceremonies. 

Having  thus  honorably  passed  through  his  ordeal 
the  heir-apparent  was  deemed  worthy  to  sit  in  the 
councils  of  his  father,  and  was  employed  in  offices  of 
trust  at  home,  or,  more  usually,  sent  on  distant  expe- 
litions  to  practise  in  the  field  the  lessons  which  he  had 
hitherto  studied  only  on  the  mimic  theatre  of  war. 
His  first  campaigns  were  conducted  under  the  renowned 
commanders  who  had  grown  gray  in  the  service  of  his 
father,  until,  advancing  in  years  and  experience,  he 
was  placed  in  command  himself,  and,  like  Huayna 
Capac,  the  last  and  most  illustrious  of  his  line,  carried 
the  banner  of  the  rainbow,  the  armorial  ensign  of  his 
house,  far  over  the  borders,  among  the  remotest  tribes 
of  the  plateau. 

The  government  of  Peru  was  a  despotism,  mild  in 

3'  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real..  Parte  ,,  lib.  6.  cap.  ^.-According 
to  Fernandez,  the  candidates  wore  white  shirts,  with  something  like  a 
cross  embroidered  in  front  !  (Historia  del  Peru  (Sevilla.  157,)  Parte 
2  lib.  3,  cap.  6.)  We  may  fancy  ourselves  occupied  with  some  chiv- 
alrous ceremonial  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Peru.—  VOL.  I.—  u  3 


26  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE   INCAS. 

its  character,  but  in  its  form  a  pure  and  unmitigated 
despotism.  The  sovereign  was  placed  at  an  immeas- 
urable distance  above  his  subjects.  Even  the  proudest 
of  the  Inca  nobility,  claiming  a  descent  from  the  same 
divine  original  as  himself,  could  not  venture  into  the 
royal  presence,  unless  barefoot,  and  bearing  a  light 
burden  on  his  shoulders  in  token  of  homage.3*  As  the 
representative  of 'the  Sun,  he  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
priesthood,  and  presided  at  the  most  important  of  the 
religious  festivals.33  He  raised  armies,  and  usually 
commanded  them  in  person.  He  imposed  taxes,  made 
laws,  and  provided  for  their  execution  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  judges,  whom  he  removed  at  pleasure.  He 
was  the  source  from  which  every  thing  flowed, — all 
dignity,  all  power,  all  emolument.  He  was,  in  short, 
in  the  well-known  phrase  of  the  European  despot, 
"himself  the  state."34 

y  Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i.  cap.  n. — Sarmiento,  Relacion, 
MS.,  cap.  7. — "  Porque  verdaderamente  a  lo  que  yo  he  averiguado 
toda  la  pretension  de  los  Ingas  fue  una  subjeccion  en  toda  la  gente. 
qual  yo  nunca  he  oido  decir  de  ninguna  otra  nacion  en  tanto  grado, 
que  por  muy  principal  que  un  Senor  fuese,  dende  que  entrava  cerca 
del  Cuzco  en  cierta  senal  que  estava  puesta  en  cada  camino  de  quatro 
que  hay,  havia  dende  alii  de  venir  cargado  hasta  la  presencia  del 
Inga,  y  alii  dejava  la  carga  y  hacia  su  obediencia."  Ondegardo,  Rel. 
Prim.,  MS. 

33  It  was  only  at  one  of  these  festivals,  and  hardly  authorizes  the 
sweeping  assertion  of  Carli  that  the  royal  and  sacerdotal  authority 
were  blended  together  in  Peru.  We  shall  see,  hereafter,  the  important 
and  independent  position  occupied  by  the  high-priest.  "  Le  Sacer- 
doceet  1' Empire  etoient  divise"s  au  Mexique;  au  lieu  qu'ils  <§toient 
reunis  au  Perou,  comme  au  Tibet  et  a  la  Chine,  et  comme  il  le  fut  & 
Rome,  lorsqu'  Auguste  jetta  les  fondemens  de  1' Empire,  en  y  reunis- 
sant  le  Sacerdoce  ou  la  dignite  de  Souverain  Pontife."  Lettres 
Americaines  (Paris,  1788),  trad.  Fran9.,  torn.  i.  let.  7. 

3*  "  Porque  el  Inga  dava  d  entender  que  era  hijo  del  Sol,  con  este 


ROYAL    FAMILY.  2» 

The  Inca  asserted  his  claims  as  a  superior  being  by 
assuming  a  pomp  in  his  manner  of  livrng  well  calcu- 
lated to  impose  on  his  people.     His  dress  was  of  the 
finest  wool  of  the  vicufia,  richly  dyed,  and  ornamented 
with  a  profusion  of  gold  and  precious  stones.     Round 
his  head  was  wreathed  a  turban  of  many-colored  folds, 
called  the  l/autu,  with  a  tasselled  fringe,  like  that  worri 
by  the  prince,  but  of  a  scarlet  color,  while  two  feathers 
of  a  rare  and    curious    bird,  called    the  coraquenquc, 
placed  upright  in  it,  were  the  distinguishing  insignia 
of  royalty.     The  birds  from  which  these  feathers  were 
obtained  were  found   in  a  desert  country  among   the 
mountains ;  and  it  was  death  to  destroy  or  to  take  them, 
as  they  were  reserved  for  the  exclusive  purpose  of  sup- 
plying the  royal  head-gear.     Every  succeeding  monarch 
was  provided  with  a  new  pair  of  these  plumes,  and  his 
credulous  subjects  fondly  believed  that  only  two  indi- 
viduals of  the  species  had  ever  existed  to  furnish  the 
simple  ornament  for  the  diadem  of  the  Incas." 

Although  the  Peruvian  monarch  was  raised  so  far 
above  the  highest  of  his  subjects,  he  condescended  to 
mingle  occasionally  with  them,  and  took  great  pains 
personally  to  inspect  the  condition  of  the  humbler 
classes.  He  presided  at  some  of  the  religious  celebra- 
tions, and  on  these  occasions  entertained  the  great 
nobles  at  his  table,  when  he  complimented  them,  after 

titulo  se  hacia  adorar,  i  governava  principalmente  en  tanto  grado  que 
ie  se  le  atrevia.  i  su  palabra  era  ley.  i  nadie  osaba  ir  contra  su 
palabra  ni  voluntad ;  aunque  obiese  de  matar  cient  mill  Indies  no 
havia  ninguno  en  su  Reino  que  le  osase  decir  que  no  lo  hiciese  " 
Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru.  MS. 

35  Garcilasso.  Com.  Real..  Parte  i.  lib.  x,  cap.  22;  lib.  6.  cap.  28.- 
Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica.  cap.  114.— Acosta.  lib.  6,  cap.  12. 


28  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE    INCAS. 

the  fashion  of  more  civilized  nations,  by  drinking  the 
health  of  thosA  whom  he  most  delighted  to  honor. * 

But  the  most  effectual  means  taken  by  the  Incas  for 
communicating  with  their  people  were  their  progresses 
through  the  empire.  These  were  conducted,  at  inter- 
vals of  several  years,  with  great  state  and  magnificence. 
The  sedan,  or  litter,  in  which  they  travelled,  richly  em- 
blazoned with  gold  and  emeralds,  was  guarded  by  a 
numerous  escort.  The  men  who  bore  it  on  their  shoul- 
ders were  provided  by  two  cities,  specially  appointed 
for  the  purpose.  It  was  a  post  to  be  coveted  by  no 
one,  if,  as  is  asserted,  a  fall  was  punished  with  death.37 
They  travelled  with  ease  and  expedition,  halting  at  the 
tambos,  or  inns,  erected  by  government  along  the  route, 
and  occasionally  at  the  royal  palaces,  which  in  the  great 
towns  afforded  ample  accommodations  to  the  whole  of 
the  monarch's  retinue.  The  noble  roads  which  trav- 

3«  One  would  hardly  expect  to  find  among  the  American  Indians 
this  social  and  kindly  custom  of  our  Saxon  ancestors, — now  fallen 
somewhat  out  of  use,  in  the  capricious  innovations  of  modern  fashion. 
Garcilasso  is  diffuse  in  his  account  of  the  forms  observed  at  the  royal 
table.  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  6,  cap,  23.)  The  only  hours  of  eat- 
ing were  at  eight  or  nine  in  the  morning,  and  at  sunset,  which  took 
place  at  nearly  the  same  time,  in  all  seasons,  in  the  latitude  of  Cuzco. 
The  historian  of  the  Incas  admits  that,  though  temperate  in  eating, 
they  indulged  freely  in  their  cups,  frequently  prolonging  their  revelry 
to  a  late  hour  of  the  night.  Ibid.,  Parte  i,  lib.  6,  cap.  i. 

37 "  In  lectica,  aureo  tabulate  constrata,  humeris  ferebant ;  in  summa, 
ea  erat  observantia,  vt  vultum  ejus  intueri  maxime  incivile  putarent,  et 
inter  baiulos,  quicunque  vel  leviter  pede  offenso  haesitaret,  e  vestigio 
interficerent."  Levinus  Apollonius.  De  Peruvia:  Regionis  Inventione, 
et  Rebus  in  eadem  gestis  (Antverpia:,  1567),  fol.  37. — Zarate,  Conq. 
del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  n. — According  to  this  writer,  the  litter  was  car- 
ried by  the  nobles ;  one  thousand  of  whom  w  ere  specially  reserved 
for  the  humiliating  honor.  Ubi  supra. 


KOYAL    FAMILY. 

^a^  tablC"land  WCre  lined  with  Peop'e,  who  s 
othTr  l^t^S,  fhf'E'  — ^  'W^* 

\C\    TnrvfV»£>*-  T*l_  "IlC    VllJafT£ 

icr.      i  ne  monarch  halted  from  t' 
listen   to  the  grievances  of  his  subject.^  to  scttf^ 

r^;^rrrs^ 

"ay  along  the  mountain-passes,  eftfyjLcwaJtolirf 

"gn^r^^r to  catch  a  gi^pse  °f  ^  ™* 

,  and  when  he  ra.sed  the  curtains  of  his  litter 
and  showed  himself  to  their  eyes,  the  air  was  rent  with 
acclamations  as  thev  invr«l-»»H  v>i 

nicy  invoKea  blessings  on  his  hear?  & 

halted,  and'the  rimpte  people  of  Oe  cCtry  h^Id'them 
,n  reverence  as  places  consecrated  by  the  ,Lence  o? 


-dlble  ,c"  „,  o,  ,r;  aU,'h0r  haS  8iVe"  in  *">"""  Ph«  a  mor 

which 


>unt  of  several  of  these  palaces  situ- 
"ng' 

3* 


70  CIFfLIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

ir1 

wide  extent  of  ground.  Some  of  the  apartments  were 
spacious,  but  they  were  generally  small,  and  had  no 
communication  with  one  another,  except  that  they 
opened  into  a  common  square  or  court.  The  walls 
were  made  of  blocks  of  stone  of  various  sizes,  like 
those  described  in  the  fortress  of  Cuzco,  rough-hewn, 
but  carefully  wrought  near  the  line  of  junction,  which 
was  scarcely  visible  to  the  eye.  The  roofs  were  of 
wood  or  rushes,  which  have  perished  under  the  rude 
touch  of  time,  that  has  shown  more  respect  for  the 
walls  of  the  edifices.  The  whole  seems  to  have  been 
characterized  by  solidity  and  strength,  rather  than  by 
any  attempt  at  architectural  elegance.4' 

But  whatever  want  of  elegance  there  may  have  been 
in  the  exterior  of  the  imperial  dwellings,  it  was  amply 
compensated  by  the  interior,  in  which  all  the  opulence 
of  the  Peruvian  princes  was  ostentatiously  displayed. 
The  sides  of  the  apartments  were  thickly  studded  with 
gold  and  silver  ornaments.  Niches,  prepared  in  the 
walls,  were  filled  with  images  of  animals  and  plants 
curiously  wrought  of  the  same  costly  materials ;  and 
even  much  of  the  domestic  furniture,  including  the 
utensils  devoted  to  the  most  ordinary  menial  services, 
displayed  the  like  wanton  magnificence  !  *  With  these 

*l  Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  44. — Antig.  y  Monumentos  de 
Peru,  MS. — See,  among  others,  the  description  of  the  remains  still 
existing  of  the  royal  buildings  at  Callo,  about  ten  leagues  south  of 
Quito,  by  Ulloa,  Voyage  to  South  America,  book  6,  ch.  n.  and  since, 
more  carefully,  by  Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  197. 

4»  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  6,  cap.  i. — "  Tanto  que  todo 
el  servicio  de  la  Casa  del  Rey  asf  de  cantaras  para  su  vino  como  de 
cozina,  todo  era  oro  y  plata,  y  esto  no  en  un  lugar  y  en  una  parte  lo 
tenia,  sino  en  muchas."  (Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  n.)  See 
also  the  flaming  accounts  of  the  palaces  of  Bilcas,  to  the  west  of 


ROYAL    FAMILY.  31 

gorgeous  decorations  were  mingled  richly-colored  stuffs 
of  the  delicate  manufacture  of  the  Peruvian  wool,  which 
were  of  so  beautiful  a  texture  that  the  Spanish  sove- 
reigns, with  all  the  luxuries  of  Europe  and  Asia  at  their 
command,  did  not  disdain  to  use  them.43  The  royal 
household  consisted  of  a  throng  of  menials,  supplied 
by  the  neighboring  towns  and  villages,  which,  as  in 
Mexico,  were  bound  to  furnish  the  monarch  with  fuel 
and  other  necessaries  for  the  consumption  of  the 
palace. 

But  the  favorite  residence  of  the  Incas  was  at  Yucay, 
about  four  leagues  distant  from  the  capital.  In  this 
delicious  valley,  locked  up  within  the  friendly  arms  of 
the  sierra,  which  sheltered  it  from  the  rude  breezes  of 
the  east,  and  refreshed  by  gushing  fountains  and  streams 
of  running  water,  they  built  the  most  beautiful  of  their 
palaces.  Here,  when  wearied  with  the  dust  and  toil 
of  the  city,  they  loved  to  retreat,  and  solace  themselves 
with  the  society  of  their  favorite  concubines,  wander- 
ing amidst  groves  and  airy  gardens,  that  shed  around 
their  soft,  intoxicating  odors  and  lulled  the  senses  to 
voluptuous  repose.  Here,  too,  they  loved  to  indulge 
in  the  luxury  of  their  baths,  replenished  by  streams  of 
crystal  water  which  were  conducted  through  subter- 
raneous silver  channels  into  basins  of  gold.  The  spa- 

Cuzco,  by  Cieza  de  Leon,  as  reported  to  him  by  Spaniards  who  had 
seen  them  in  their  glory.  (Cronica,  cap.  89.)  The  niches  are  still 
described  by  modern  travellers  as  to  be  found  in  the  walls.  (Hum- 
boldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  197.) 

«  "  La  ropa  de  la  cama  toda  era  de  mantas,  y  frecadas  de  lana  de 
Vicuna,  que  es  tan  fina,  y  tan  regalada,  que  entre  otras  cosas  precia- 
das  de  aquellas  Tierras,  se  las  han  traido  para  la  cama  del  Rey  Don 
Phelipe  Segundo."  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  6.  cap.  i. 


32  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

cious  gardens  were  stocked  with  numerous  varieties  of 
plants  and  flowers  that  grew  without  effort  in  this  tem- 
perate region  of  the  tropics,  while  parterres  of  a  more 
extraordinary  kind  were  planted  by  their  side,  glowing 
with  the  various  forms  of  vegetable  life  skilfully  imitated 
in  gold  and  silver !  Among  them  the  Indian  corn,  the 
most  beautiful  of  American  grains,  is  particularly  com- 
memorated, and  the  curious  workmanship  is  noticed 
with  which  the  golden  ear  was  half  disclosed  amidst 
the  broad  leaves  of  silver,  and  the  light  tassel  of  the 
same  material  that  floated  gracefully  from  its  top.44 

If  this  dazzling  picture  staggers  the  faith  of  the 
reader,  he  may  reflect  that  the  Peruvian  mountains 
teemed  with  gold ;  that  the  natives  understood  the  art 
of  working  the  mines,  to  a  considerable  extent ;  that 
none  of  the  ore,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  was  con- 
verted into  coin,  and  that  the  whole  of  it  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  sovereign  for  his  own  exclusive  benefit, 
whether  for  purposes  of  utility  or  ornament.  Certain 
it  is  that  no  fact  is  better  attested  by  the  Conquerors 
themselves,  who  had  ample  means  of  information,  and 
no  motive  for  misstatement..  The  Italian  poets,  in 
their  gorgeous  pictures  of  the  gardens  of  Alcina  and 
Morgana,  came  nearer  the  truth  than  they  imagined. 

Our  surprise,  however,  may  reasonably  be  excited 
when  we  consider  that  the  wealth  displayed  by  the 
Peruvian  princes  was  only  that  which  each  had  amassed 

«4  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  x,  lib.  5,  cap.  26;  lib.  6,  cap.  2.— 
Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  24.— Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  94. 
—The  last  writer  speaks  of  a  cement,  made  in  part  of  liquid  gold,  as 
used  in  the  royal  buildings  of  Tambo,  a  valley  not  far  from  Yucay  ! 
(Ubi  supra.)  We  may  excuse  the  Spaniards  for  demolishing  such 
edifices,— if  they  ever  met  with  them. 


ROYAL    FAAfltY. 

33 

individually  for  himself.     He  owed  nothing  to  inherit- 

e  from  his  predecessors.  On  the  decease  of  an  Inca 

his  palaces  were  abandoned;  all  his  treasures,  excepi 

what  were  employed  in  his  obsequies,  his  furniture  and 

apparel,  were  suffered  to  remain  as  he  left  them,  and 

mansions,  save  one,  were  closed  up  forever      The 

new  sovereign  was  to  provide  himself  with  every  thine 

new  for  his  royal  state.     The  reason  of  this  was  the 

popular  belief  that  the  soul  of  the  departed  monarch 

would  return  after  a  time  to  re-animate  his  body  on 

earth ;  and  they  wished  that  he  should  find  everything 

to  wh.ch  he  had  been  used   in   life  prepared  for  his 

reception. «      ^ 

When  an  Inca  died,  or,   to  use  his  own  language 
^  was  called  home  to  the  mansions  of  his  father  the 
un,    «  his  obsequies  were  celebrated  with  great  pomp 
and  solemnity.     The  bowels  were  taken  from  the  body 
and  deposited    in  the  temple  of  Tampu,  about   five 
leagues  from  the  capital.     A  quantity  of  his  plate  and 
jewels  was  buried  with   them,   and  a  number  of  his 
tendants  and  favorite  concubines,  amounting  some- 
times, it  is  said,  to  a  thousand,  were  immolated  on  his 
Some  of  them  showed  the  natural  repugnance 
e  sacrifice  occasionally  manifested  by  the  victims 

^  Acosta.  lib.  6.  cap.  la.-Garcilasso.  Com.  Real..  Parte  ,,  lib.  6. 

*  The  Aztecs,  also,  believed  that  the  soul  of  the  warrior  who  fell  in 

went  to  accompany  the  Sun  in  his  bright  progress  through  the 

heavens.     (See  Conquest  of  Mexico,  book  i   chap  *  \ 

«  Conq.  i.  Fob  del  Pin,  MS.-Acosta.  lib.  5.  cap^.-Four  thou- 

nd  of  these  v.ct.ms,  according  to  Sarmiento,_we  may  hope  it  is  an 

exaggeration.-gracedthefuneralobsequ.esofHuaynaCapac.thelast 
IncasbeforethecomingoftheSpaniards.  Relation,  MS   cap  65 


34  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

of  a  similar  superstition  in  India.  But  these  were 
probably  the  menials  and  more  humble  attendants ; 
since  the  women  have  been  known,  in  more  than  one 
instance,  to  lay  violent  hands  on  themselves,  when  re- 
strained from  testifying  their  fidelity  by  this  act  of 
conjugal  martyrdom.  This  melancholy  ceremony  was 
followed  by  a  general  mourning  throughout  the  empire. 
At  stated  intervals,  for  a  year,  the  people  assembled  to 
renew  the  expressions  of  their  sorrow ;  processions 
were  made,  displaying  the  banner  of  the  departed 
monarch ;  bards  and  minstrels  were  appointed  to  chron- 
icle his  achievements,  and  their  songs  continued  to  be 
rehearsed  at  high  festivals  in  the  presence  of  the  reign- 
ing monarch, — thus  stimulating  the  living  by  the  glo- 
rious example  of  the  dead.48 

The  body  of  the  deceased  Inca  was  skilfully  em- 
balmed, and  removed  to  the  great  temple  of  the  Sun 
at  Cuzco.  There  the  Peruvian  sovereign,  on  entering 
the  awful  sanctuary,  might  behold  the  effigies  of  his 
royal  ancestors,  ranged  in  opposite  files, — the  men  on 
the  right,  and  their  queens  on  the  left,  of  the  great 
luminary  which  blazed  in  refulgent  gold  on  the  walls 
of  the  temple.  The  bodies,  clothed  in  the  princely 
attire  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  wear,  were 
placed  on  chairs  of  gold,  and  sat  with  their  heads  in- 
clined downward,  their  hands  placidly  crossed  over 
their  bosoms,  their  countenances  exhibiting  their  natural 
dusky  hue,— less  liable  to  change  than  the  fresher  color- 
ing of  a  European  complexion, — and  their  hair  of  raven 
black,  or  silvered  over  with  age,  according  to  the  period 

«"  Cieza  de  Leon.  Cronica,  cap.  62.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte 
I,  lib.  6,  cap.  5.— Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  8. 


ROYAL    I-AMII.Y. 

35 

at  which  they  died!  It  seemed  like  a  company  of 
solemn  worshippers  fixed  in  devotion,-so  true  were  the 
forms  and  lineaments  to  life.  The  Peruvians  were  as 
successful  as  the  Egyptians  in  the  miserable  attempt  to 
perpetuate  the  existence  of  the  body  beyond  the  limits 
assigned  to  it  by  nature.  « 

They  cherished  a  still  stranger  illusion  in  the  atten- 
tions which  they  continued  to  pay  to  these  insensible 
remains,  as  if  they  were  instinct  with  life.  One  of  the 
houses  belonging  to  a  deceased  Inca  was  kept  open  and 
occupied  by  his  guard  and  attendants,  with  all  the  state 
appropriate  to  royalty.  On  certain  festivals,  the  revered 
)dies  of  the  sovereigns  were  brought  out  with  great 
ceremony  into  the  public  square  of  the  capital  Invi- 
tations were  sent  by  the  captains  of  the  guard  of  the 
respective  Incas  to  the  different  nobles  and  officers  of 
court;  and  entertainments  were  provided  in  the 

«0ndegardo.  Rel.  Prim..  MS.-Garcilasso.  Com.  Real..  Parte  i 
lib.  s,  cap.  29,-The  Peruvians  secreted  these  mummies  of  their 
soverelgn  s  after  the  Conquest,  that  they  might  not  be  profaned  b  the 

co         ?  /TirdS-     °nde*ard°-  when  «^fUor  of  Cuzco   dis- 

covered five  of  them,  three  male  and  two  female.     The  former  were 
e  bod.cs  of  V  u-acocha,  of  the  great  Tupac  Inca  Yupanqui.  and  of 
h.s  son  Huayna  Capac.     Garcilasso  saw  them  in  x56o.     They  were 
•lr,ss,,I  ,„  thclr  regal  robes  whh  no  .ns.gnia  bm  the  X        e 

J-*;     '  -v  were  in  a  sitting  posture,  and.  to  use  his  own  expres- 
.on.     perfect  as  l.fc.  w.thout  so  much  as  a  hair  or  an  eyebrow  want- 

" 


w,  a  nntl  '  y  Srout 

•  a  mantle,  the  Ind.ans  threw  themselves  on  their  knees,  in  sign  of 

reverence  w,<h  many  tears  and  groans,  and  were  still  more  touched 
as  they  beheld  some  of  the  Spaniards  themselves  doffing  their  caps  * 
akeno  respect  to  departed  royalty.  (Ibid.,  ubi  supra.)  The  bodies 
were  subsequently  removed  to  Lima;  and  Father  Acosta.  who  ^a 

50"1 


36  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE    INC  AS. 

names  of  their  masters,  which  displayed  all  the  profuse 
magnificence  of  their  treasures, — and  "  such  a  display," 
says  an  ancient  chronicler,  "  was  there  in  the  great  square 
of  Cuzco,  on  this  occasion,  of  gold  and  silver  plate  and 
jewels,  as  no  other  city  in  the  world  ever  witnessed."  : 
The  banquet  was  served  by  the  menials  of  the  respective 
households,  and  the  guests  partook  of  the  melancholy 
cheer  in  the  presence  of  the  royal  phantom  with  the 
same  attention  to  the  forms  of  courtly  etiquette  as  if 
the  living  monarch  had  presided  ! $I  • 

The  nobility  of  Peru  consisted  of  two  orders,  the 
first  and  by  far  the  most  important  of  which  was  that 
of  the  Incas,  who,  boasting  a  common  descent  with 
their  sovereign,  lived,  as  it  were,  in  the  reflected  light 
of  his  glory.  As  the  Peruvian  monarchs  availed  them- 
selves of  the  right  of  polygamy  to  a  very  liberal  extent, 
leaving  behind  them  families  of  one  or  even  two  hun- 
dred children,51  the  nobles  of  the  blood  royal,  though 

s<>"Tenemos  por  muy  cierto  que  ni  en  Jerusalem,  Roma,  ni,en 
Persia,  ni  en  ninguna  parte  del  mundo  por  ninguna  Republica  ni  Key 
de  el,  se  juntaba  en  un  lugar  tanta  riqueza  de  Metales  de  oro  y  Plata 
y  Pedreria  como  en  esta  Plaza  del  Cuzco ;  quando  estas  fiestas  y  otras 
semejantes  se  hacian."  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  27. 

s«  Idem,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  8,  27.— Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg..  MS.— 
It  was  only,  however,  the  great  and  good  princes  that  were  thus  hon- 
ored, according  to  Sarmiento.  "  whose  souls  the  silly  people  fondly 
believed,  on  account  of  their  virtues,  were  in  heaven,  although,  in 
truth,"  as  the  same  writer  assures  us,  "  they  were  all  the  time  burning 
in  the  flames  of  hell"  !  "  Digo  los  que  haviendo  sido  en  vida  buenos 
y  valerosos,  generosos  con  los  Indies  en  les  hacer  mercedes.  perdona- 
dores  de  injurias,  porque  a  estos  tales  canonizaban  en  su  ceguedad  por 
Santos  y  honrraban  sus  huesos,  sin  entender  que  las  animas  ardian  en 
los  Ynfiernos  y  creian  que  estaban  en  el  Cielo."  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

5"  Garcilasso  says  over  three  hundred !  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib. 
3,  cap.  19.)  The  fact,  though  rather  startling,  is  not  incredible,  if.  1 


NOBILITY.  37 

comprehending  only  their  descendants  in  the  male 
line,  came  in  the  course  of  years  to  be  very  numer- 
ous.53 They  were  divided  intq  different  lineages,  each 
of  which  traced  its  pedigree  to  a  different  member  of 
the  royal  dynasty,  though  all  terminated  in  the  divine 
founder  of  the  empire. 

They  were  distinguished  by  many  exclusive  and 
very  important  privileges ;  they  wore  a  peculiar  dress, 
spoke  a  dialect,  if  we  may  believe  the  chronicler,  pecu- 
liar to  themselves,54  and  had  the  choicest  portion  of  the 
public  domain  assigned  for  their  support.  They  lived, 
most  of  them,  at  court,  near  the  person  of  the  prince, 
sharing  in  his  counsels,  dining  at  his  board,  or  sup- 
plied from  his  table.  They  alone  were  admissible  to 
the  great  offices  in  the  priesthood.  They  were  invested 
with  the  command  of  armies  and  of  distant  garrisons, 
Huayna  Capac,  they  counted  seven  hundred  wives  in  their  seraglio. 
SIT  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  7. 

53  Garcilasso  mentions  a  class  of  Incas  par  privilegio,  who  were 
allowed  to  possess  the  name  and  many  of  the  immunities  of  the  blood 
royal,  though  only  descended  from  the  great  vassals  that  first  served 
under  the  banner  of  Manco  Capac.     (Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  i,  cap. 
22.)     This  important  fact,  to  which  he  often  refers,  one  would  be  glad 
to  see  confirmed  by  a  single  authority. 

54  "  Los  Incas  tuvieron  otra  Lengua  particular,  que  hablavan  entre 
ellos,  que  no  la  entendian  los  demas  Indios,  ni  les  era  licito  apren- 
derla,«como  Lenguage  Divino.     Esta  me  escriven  del  Peru,  que  se  ha 
perdido  totalmente  ;  porque  como  perecid  la  Republica  particular  de 
los  Incas,  perecid  tambien  el  Lenguage  dellos."     Garcilasso,  Com. 
Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  7.  cap.  i.» 

*  {An  analysis  of  fifteen  words  preserved  by  Garcilasso  has  led  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  supposed  secret  language  of  the  Incas  was 
only  a  dialect  of  the  common  tongue.  Meyen,  Ueber  die  Ureinbe- 
wohner  von  Peru,  cited  by  Brinton,  Myths  of  the  New  World,  p. 
Si.-ED.] 

Peru.— VOL.  I.  4 


115547 


38  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

were  placed  over  the  provinces,  and,  in  short,  filled 
every  station  of  high  trust  and  emolument.55  Even 
the  laws,  severe  in  their  general  tenor,  seem  not  to 
have  been  framed  with  reference  to  them;  and  the 
people,  investing  the  whole  order  with  a  portion  of  the 
sacred  character  which  belonged  to  the  sovereign,  held 
that  an  Inca  noble  was  incapable  of  crime.56 

The  other  order  of  nobility  was  the  Curaeas,  the 
caciques  of  the  conquered  nations,  or  their  descend- 
ants. They  were  usually  continued  by  the  government 
in  their  places,  though  they  were  required  to  visit  the 
capital  occasionally,  and  to  allow  their  sons  to  be  edu- 
cated there  as  the  pledges  of  their  loyalty.  It  is  not 
easy  to  define  the  nature  or  extent  of  their  privileges. 
They  were  possessed  of  more  or  less  power,  according 
to  the  extent  of  their  patrimony  and  the  number  of 
their  vassals.  Their  authority  was  usually  transmitted 
from  father  to  son,  though  sometimes  the  successor 
was  chosen  by  the  people.57  They  did  not  occupy  the 
highest  posts  of  state,  or  those  nearest  the  person  of 
the  sovereign,  like  the  nobles  of  the  blood.  •  Their 

55  "  Una  sola  gente  hallo  yo  que  era  exenta,  que  eran  los  Ingas  del 
Cuzco  y  por  alii  al  rededor  de  ambas  parcialidades,  porque  cstos  no 
solo  no  pagavan  tribute,  pero  aun  comian  de  lo  que  traian  al  Inga  de 
todo  el  reino,  y  estos  eran  por  la  mayor  parte  los  Governado/es  en 
todo  el  reino,  y  por  donde  quiera  que  iban  se  les  hacia  mucha  honrra." 
Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. 

56  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  2,  cap.  15. 

57  In  this  event,  it  seems,  the  successor  named  was  usually  presented 
to  the  Inca  for  confirmation.    (Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real... MS.)    At  other 
times  the  Inca  himself  selected  the  heir  from  among  the  children  of 
the  deceased  Curaca.     "  In  short,"  says  Ondegardo,  "  there  was  no 
rule  of  succession  so  sure,  but  it  might  be  set  aside  by  the  supreme 
will  of  the  sovereign."     Rel.  Prim.,  MS. 


NOBILITY. 


39 


authority  seems  to  have  been  usually  local,  and  always 
in  subordination  to  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the 
great  provincial  governors,  who  were  taken  from  the 
Incas.s* 

It  was  the  Inca  nobility,  indeed,  who  constituted 
the  real  strength  of  the  Peruvian  monarchy.  Attached 
to  their  prince  by  ties  of  consanguinity,  they  had  com- 
mon sympathies  and,  to  a  considerable  extent,  common 
interests  with  him.  Distinguished  by  a  peculiar  dress 
and  insignia,  as  well  as  by  language  and  blood,  from 
the  rest  of  the  community,  they  were  never  confounded 
with  the  other  tribes  and  nations  who  were  incorpo- 
rated into  the  great  Peruvian  monarchy.  After  the 
lapse  of  centuries  they  still  retained  their  individuality 
as  a  peculiar  people.  They  were  to  the  conquered 
races  of  the  country  what  the  Romans  were  to  the  bar- 
barous hordes  of  the  Empire  or  the  Normans  to  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  the  British  Isles.  Clustering 
around  the  throne,  they  formed  an  invincible  phalanx 
to  shield  it  alike  from  secret  conspiracy  and  open  in- 
surrection. Though  living  chiefly  in  the  capital,  they 
were  also  distributed  throughout  the  country  in  all  its 
high  stations  and  strong  military  posts,  thus  establish- 
ing lines  of  communication  with  the  court,  which 
enabled  the  sovereign  to  act  simultaneously  and  with 
effect  on  the  most  distant  quarters  of  his  empire. 
They  possessed,  moreover,  an  intellectual  pre-emi- 
nence, which,  no  less  than  their  station,  gave  them 
authority  with  the  people.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  to 

58  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  4,  cap.  10. — Sarmiento,  Re- 
lacion,  MS.,  cap.  n. — Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS. — Cieza  de  Leon, 
Cronica,  cap.  93. — Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. 


40  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE   INCAS, 

have  been  the  principal  foundation  of  their  authority. 
\        The  crania  of  the  Inca  race  show  a  decided  superiority 
\     over  the  other  races  of  the  land  in  intellectual  power ;  » 
\  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  was  the  fountain  of  that 
\eculiar  civilization  and  social  polity  which  raised  the 
Pfctruvian  monarchy  above  every  other  state  in  South 
America.      Whence   this   remarkable  race   came,  and 
what  was  its  early  history,  are  among  those  mysteries 
that  meet  us  so  frequently  in  the  annals  of  the  New 
World,  and  which  time  and  the  antiquary  have  as  yet 
done  little  to  explain.* 

59  Dr.  Morton's  valuable  work  contains  several  engravings  of  both 
the  Inca  and  the  common  Peruvian  skull,  showing  that  the  facial  angle 
in  the  former,  though  by  no  means  great,  was  mucr|  larger  than  that 

*  [The  wildest  speculations  on  this  point  have  not  been  those  of 
early  writers,  unguided  by  any  principles  of  philological  or  ethnologi- 
cal science,  and  accustomed  to  regard  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  as  the 
sole  fountain  of  knowledge  in  regard  to  the  origin  and  diffusion  of  the 
human  race.  Modern  research  in  matters  of  language  and  mythology, 
while  dispelling  many  illusions  and  furnishing  a  key  to  many  riddles, 
has  opened  a  field  in  which  the  imagination,  equipped  with  a  quasi- 
scientific  apparatus,  finds  a  wider  range  than  ever  before.  The  dis- 
coveries of  the  Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  in  regard  to  the  origin  of 
the  Mexican  civilization  have  been  matched  by  those  of  a  Peruvian 
scholar,  Dr.  Vincente  Fidel  Lopez,  who.  in  a  work  entitled  Les  Races 
aryennes  du  Perou  (Paris,  1871),  has  brought  forward  a  vast  array  of 
argument  to  prove  that  the  dominant  race  in  Peru  was  an  offshoot  of 
the  great  Indo-European  family,  transplanted  at  some  remote  period 
to  the  American  soil,  and  not  connected  by  blood  with  any  of  its  other 
occupants.  This  theory  is  based  on  a  comparison  of  languages,  of 
architectural  and  other  remains,  and  of  institutions  and  ideas.  The 
Quichua  language,  it  is  admitted,  differs  in  form  from  all  the  recog- 
nized Aryan  tongues.  Like  the  other  American  languages,  it  is  poly- 
synthetic,  though  Dr.  Lopez,  who  makes  no  distinction  between  the 
two  terms,  calls  it  agglutinative,  classing  it  with  the  dialects  of  the  Tu- 
ranian family.  But  many  philologists  hold  that  there  must  have  been 


NOBILITY.  41 

in  the  latter,  which  was  singularly  flat  and  deficient  in  intellectual 
character.    Crania  Americana  (Philadelphia,  iSag).* 


a  period  when  the  oldest  Aryan  tongues  were  destitute  of  inflexions 
and  employed  the  same  modes  of  expression  as  the  Chinese  and  other 
monosyllabic  languages.  There  is  therefore  a  "  missing  link,"  which  is 
supplied  by  the  Quichua,  this  being  agglutinative  in  form  but  Aryan 
in  substance.  The  latter  point  is  established  by  the  identity  of  its 
leading  roots  with  those  of  the  Sanscrit :  that  is  to  say,  there  are  Aas, 
/<is.  and  vas,  with  meanings  capable  of  being  distorted  into  some 
similarity,  in  both.  The  argument  in  regard  to  architecture,  pottery, 
etc.,  is  of  a  more  familiar  kind,  having  been  long  since  adduced  in 
support  of  various  conjectures.  The  mythological  hypotheses  are 
more  amusing.  Dr.  Lopez  holds,  with  M.  Brasseur,  that  all  myths 
are  identical ;  but  while  the  latter  insists  that  their  common  signifi- 
cance is  geological,  the  former  contends  that  it  is  astronomical.  A 
single  example  will  illustrate  the  method  by  which  the  author  estab- 
lishes his  points.  The  most  ancient  Peruvian  deity,  as  Dr.  Lopez 
believes,  was  Ati,  the  representative  of  the  waning  moon,  identical 
with  the  Ate  of  the  Homeric  mythology.  Another  step  brings  us 
to  Hecate, — properly  'Ef-anj  o/  or  by  Ate. — and  a  third  to  Athene 
— Ati-inna — and  Minerva,  both  names  signifying  the  same  thing,  viz., 
force  de  la  lune.  Lest  it  should  be  supposed  that  such  conjectures 
have  sprung  from  the  remoteness  and  isolation  in  which,  as  Dr. 
Lopez  complains,  the  Peruvian  scholar  is  placed,  it  may  be  proper 
to  mention  that  he  has  been  anticipated  and  even  outstripped  in  his 
leading  ideas  by  some  German  savants,  who,  by  a  similar  etymological 
process,  have  identified  both  the  Peruvians  and  the  Aztecs  as  Celts. 
"  Aber  woher  kamen  diese  Kelten?"  asks  one  of  these  enthusiastic 
explorers.  "  Denn  dass  es  Kelten  gewesen  sind,  kann  nicht  mehr 
zweifelhaft  sein."  And  he  answers  his  own  inquiry  by  showing  the 
probability  that  they  were  Irish,  "  the  last  pagan  remains  of  that 
people,"  who  rescued  their  old  druidical  worship  from  the  inroads  of 
Christianity,  and  having  carried  it  across  the  ocean, — whether  stopping 
at  Greenland  on  the  way  or  not  he  is  unable  to  decide, — planted  it  on 
the  Andes,  "  that  is  to  say,  the  beautiful  land,  from  an,  pleasant,  beau- 
tiful, and  des,  land."  Frenzel,  Der  Belus  oder  Sonnendienst  auf  den 
Anden,  oder  Kelten  in  America  (Leipzig,  1867). — ED.] 

*  [It  seems  extremely  improbable  that  Dr.  Morton  should  have 
been  able  to  obtain   any  well-authenticated    crania  of   the   Incas. 
4* 


42  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE   INC  AS. 

"  With  the  exception,"  says  Rivero,  "  of  the  mummies  of  the  four  [?] 
emperors  which  were  carried  to  Lima,  .  .  .  and  the  remains  of  which 
it  has  been  impossible  to  discover  up  to  this  day,  the  sepulchres  of  the 
others  are  unknown,  as  well  as  of  the  nobility  descended  from  them." 
[Peruvian  Antiquities,  Eng.  trans.,  p.  40.)  The  same  writer  asserts 
that  all  the  Peruvian  crania  figured  in  the  work  of  Dr.  Morton  belong 
to  those  of  the  three  races  which,  according  to  him,  constituted  the 
general  mass  of  the  population,  the  Chinchas,  the  Aymaraes,  and  the 
Huancas.  The  crania  of  all  these  races  are,  he  further  states,  distin- 
guished by  an  osteologic  anomaly  :  the  presence,  namely,  of  an  inter- 
parietal  bone,  of  a  more  or  less  triangular  form,  perfectly  distinct  in 
the  first  month  after  birth,  and.  subsequently  united  to  the  occipital, 
the  suture  being  marked  by  a  furrow  which  is  never  obliterated  and 
which  is  easily  recognized  in  all  the  crania. — ED.] 


CHAPTER    II. 

ORDERS    OF    THE    STATE. — PROVISIONS     FOR    JUSTICE. — 
DIVISION     OF     LANDS. — REVENUES    AND   REGISTERS. — 

GREAT    ROADS     AND     POSTS. MILITARY    TACTICS     AND 

POLICY. 

IF  we  are  surprised  at  the  peculiar  and  original  fea- 
tures of  what  may  be  called  the  Peruvian  aristocracy, 
\vc  shall  be  still  more  so  as  we  descend  to  the  lower 
orders  of  the  community  and  see  the  very  artificial 
character  of  their  institutions. — as  artificial  as  those  of 
ancient  Sparta,  and,  though  in  a  different  way,  quite 
is  repugnant  to  the  essential  principles  of  our  nature. 
The  institutions  of  Lycurgus,  however,  were  designed 
for  a  petty  state,  while  those  of  Peru,  although  origi- 
nally intended  for  such,  seemed,  like  the  magic  tent  in 
the  Arabian  tale,  to  have  an  indefinite  power  of  expan- 
sion, and  were  as  well  suited  to  the  most  flourishing 
condition  of  the  empire  as  to  its  infant  fortunes.  In 
this  remarkable  accommodation  to  change  of  circum- 
stances we  see  the  proofs  of  a  contrivance  that  argues 
no  slight  advance' in  civilization. 

The  name  of  Peru  was  not  known  to  the  natives.  It 
was  given  by  the  Spaniards,  and  originated,  it  is  said, 
in  a  misapprehension  of  the  Indian  name  of  "  river."  ' 

1  Pelu,  according  to  Garcilasso,  was  the  Indian  name  for  "  river," 
and  was  given  by  one  of  the  natives  in  answer  to  a  question  put  to  him 
by  the  Spaniards,  who  conceived  it  to  be  the  name  of  the  country. 
(Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  i,  cap.  6.)  *Mch  blunders  have  led  to  the 

(43) 


44  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE    INCAS. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  natives  had 
no  other  epithet  by  which  to  designate  the  large  col- 
lection of  tribes  and  nations  who  were  assembled  under 
the  sceptre  of  the  Incas,  than  that  of  Tavantinsuyu,  or 
"  four  quarters  of  the  world."  2  This  will  not  surprise 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  who  has  no  other  name 
by  which  to  class  himself  among  nations  than  what  is 
borrowed  from  a  quarter  of  the  globe.3  The  kingdom, 

names  of  many  places  both  in  North  and  South  America.  Montesi- 
nos,  however,  denies  that  there  is  such  an  Indian  term  for  "  river."* 
(Mem.  antiguas,  MS.,  lib.  i,  cap.  2.)  According  to  this  writer,  Peru 
was  the  ancient  Ophir,  whence  Solomon  drew  such  stores  of  wealth, 
and  which,  by  a  very  natural  transition,  has  in  time  been  corrupted 
into  Phiru,  Piru,  Peru  !  The  first  book  of  the  Memorias,  consisting 
of  thirty-two  chapters,  is  devoted  to  this  precious  disco  very  .f 

2  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i, 
lib.  2,  cap.  ii. 

3  Yet  an  American  may  find  food  for  his  vanity  in  the  reflection  that 
the  name  of  a  quarter  of  the  globe,  inhabited  by  so  many  civilized 
nations,  has  been  exclusively  conceded  to  him. — Was  it  conceded  or 
assumed  ?  \ 

*  [This  statement  would  appear  to  be  correct,  and  Garcilasso's 
etymology  must  be  rejected  on  that,  if  on  no  other  ground.  More 
probable  derivations  are  those  given  by  Pascual  de  Andagoya, — from 
Biru,  the  name  of  a  province  first  visited  by  Caspar  de  Morales  and 
Francisco  Pizarro,— and  by  Father  Bias  Valera— from  the  Quichua 
word  Pirua,  a  granary.  Garcilasso's  objection,  that  the  spelling  Piru 
was  a  later  and  corrupt  form,  would,  even  if  well  founded,  be  of  little 
moment. — ED.] 

f  [A  recent  writer,  forgetting,  as  Montesinos  seems  also  to  have 
done,  that  Peru  was  not  the  native  name  for  the  country,  suggests  its 
connection  with  Persia— itself  a  mere  corruption—as  an  argument  in 
support  of  the  Aryan  origin  of  the  Quichuans !— ED.] 

%  [This  comparison,  which  seems  quite  out  of  place,  might  be  sup- 
posed to  imply  that  the  Peruvian  word  translated  "  four  quarters  of 
the  world"  bore  a  similar  meaning  to  that  conveyed  by  the  English 
phrase.  But  Garcilasso  himself  explains  it  as  indicating  merely  the 


ORDERS    OF    THE    STATE. 


45 


conformably  to  its  name,  was  divided  into  four  parts, 
distinguished  each  by  a  separate  title,  and  to  each  of 
which  ran  one  of  the  four  great  roads  that  diverged 
from  Cuzco,  the  capital  or  navel  of  the  Peruvian  mon- 
archy. The  city  was  in  like  manner  divided  into  four 
quarters ;  and  the  various  races  which  gathered  there 
from  the  distant  parts  of  the  empire  lived  each  in  the 
quarter  nearest  to  its  respective  province.  They  all 
continued  to  wear  their  peculiar  national  costume,  so 
that  it  was  easy  to  determine  their  origin  ;  and  the 
same  order  and  system  of  arrangement  prevailed  in  the 
motley  population  of  the  capital  as  in  the  great  prov- 
inces of  the  empire.  The  capital,  in  fact,  was  a  minia- 
ture image  of  the  empire.4 

The  four  great  provinces  were  each  placed  under  a 
viceroy  or  governor,  who  ruled  over  them  with  the 
assistance  of  one  or  more  councils  for  the  different 
departments.  These  viceroys  resided,  some  portion 
of  their  time,  at  least,  in  the  capital,  where  they  con- 
stituted a  sort  of  council  of  state  to  the  Inca.s  The 

*Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  2,  cap.  9, 10. — Cieza  de  Leon, 
Cronica,  cap.  93. — The  capital  was  further  divided  into  two  parts,  the 
Upper  and  Lower  town,  founded,  as  pretended,  on  the  different  origin 
of  the  population ;  a  division  recognized  also  in  the  inferior  cities. 
Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 

t  Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib. 


four  cardinal  points,  by  which  divisions  of  territory,  as  well  as  archi- 
tec^ural  arrangements  and  even  social  organizations,  were  so  com- 
monly regulated  among  primitive  nations.  The  extent  to  which  this 
was  carried  in  America,  and  the  consequent  importance  and  sacred- 
ness  attached  to  the  number  four,  as  exemplified  in  many  myths  and 
traditions,  have  been  pointed  out  with  great  fulness  of  research  and 
illustration  by  Dr.  Brinton,  in  his  Myths  of  the  New  World.— ED.] 


46  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

nation  at  large  was  distributed  into  decades,  or  small 
bodies  of  ten;  and  every  tenth  man,  or  head  of  a 
decade,  had  supervision  of  the  rest, — being  required  to 
see  that  they  enjoyed  the  rights  and  immunities  to 
which  they  were  entitled,  to  solicit  aid  in  their  be- 
half from  government,  when  necessary,  and  to  bring 
offenders  to  justice.  To  this  last  they  were  stimulated 
by  a  law  that  imposed  on  them,  in  case  of  neglect,  the 
same  penalty  that  would  have  been  incurred  by  the 
guilty  party.  With  this  law  hanging  over  his  head, 
the  magistrate  of  Peru,  we  may  well  believe,  did  not 
often  go  to  sleep  on  his  post.6 

The  people  were  still  further  divided  into  bodies  of 
fifty,  one  hundred,  five  hundred,  and  a  thousand,  each 
with  an  officer  having  general  supervision  over  those 
beneath,  and  the  higher  ones  possessing,  to  a  certain 
extent,  authority  in  matters  of  police.  Lastly,  the 
whole  empire  was  distributed  into  sections  or  depart- 
ments of  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  with  a  governor 
over  each,  from  the  Inca  nobility,  who  had  control 
over  the  curacas  and  other  territorial  officers  in  the 
district.  There  were,  also,  regular  tribunals  of  justice, 
consisting  of  magistrates  in  each  of  the  towns  or  small 
communities,  with  jurisdiction  over  petty  offences, 

2,  cap.  15.— For  this  account  of  the  councils  I  am  indebted  toGarci- 
lasso,  who'  frequently  fills  up  gaps  that  have  been  left  by  his  fellow- 
laborers.  Whether  the  filling  up  will,  in  all  cases,  bear  the  touch  of 
time  as  well  as  the  rest  of  his  work,  one  may  doubt. 

6  Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  M'S.— Montesinos,  Mem.  antiguas,  \fe., 
lib.  2,  cap.  6. — Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. — How  analogous  is  the 
Peruvian  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  division  into  hundreds  and  tithings  !  But 
the  Saxon  law  which  imposed  only  a  fine  on  the  district  in  case  of  a 
criminal's  escape  was  more  humane. 


PROVISIONS    FOR  JUSTICE.  47 

while  those  of  a  graver  character  were  carried  before 
superior  judges,  usually  the  governors  or  rulers  of  the 
districts.  These  judges  all  held  their  authority  and 
received  their  support  from  the  crown,  by  which  they 
were  appointed  and  removed  at  pleasure.  They  were 
obliged  to  determine  every  suit  in  five  days  from  the 
time  it  was  brought  before  them ;  and  there  was  no 
appeal  from  one  tribunal  to  another.  Yet  there  were 
important  provisions  for  the  security  of  justice.  A 
committee  of  visitors  patrolled  the  kingdom  at  certain 
times  to  investigate  the  character  and  conduct  of  the 
magistrates ;  and  any  neglect  or  violation  of  duty  was 
punished  in  the  most  exemplary  manner.  The  inferior 
courts  were  also  required  to  make  monthly  returns  of 
their  proceedings  to  the  higher  ones,  and  these  made 
reports  in  like  manner  to  the  viceroys :  so  that  the 
monarch,  seated  in  the  centre  of  his  dominions,  could 
look  abroad,  as  it  were,  to  their  most  distant  extremities, 
and  review  and  rectify  any  abuses  in  the  administration 
of  the  law.7 

The  laws  were  few  and  exceedingly  severe.  They 
related  almost  wholly  to  criminal  matters.  Few  other 
laws  were  needed  by  a  people  who  had  no  money,  little 
trade,  and  hardly  anything  that  could  be  called  fixed 
property.  The  crimes  of  theft,  adultery,  and  murder 
were  all  capital ;  though  it  was  wisely  provided  that 
some  extenuating  circumstances  might  be  allowed  to 

i  Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS.— Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim,  et  Seg., 
MSS.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  2,  cap.  11-14.— Monte- 
sinos,  Mem.  antiguas,  MS.,  lib.  2,  cap.  6. — The  accounts  of  the  Peru- 
vian tribunals  by  the  early  authorities  are  very  meagre  and  unsatisfac- 
tory. Even  the  lively  imagination  of  Garcilasso  has  failed  to  supply 
the  blank. 


4g  CIVILIZATION  Ut'    THE    INC  AS. 

mitigate  the  punishment.8  Blasphemy  against  the  Sun, 
and  malediction  of  the  Inca, — offences,  indeed,  of  the 
same  complexion,— were  also  punished  with  death. 
Removing  landmarks,  turning  the  water  away  from  a 
neighbor's  land  into  one's  own,  burning  a  house,  were 
all  severely  punished.  To  burn  a  bridge  was  death. 
The  Inca  allowed  no  obstacle  to  those  facilities  of  com- 
munication so  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  public 
order.  A  rebellious  city  or  province  was  laid  waste, 
and  its  inhabitants  exterminated.  Rebellion  against 
the  "Child  of  the  Sun"  was  the  greatest  of  all 
crimes.9 

The  simplicity  and  severity  of  the  Peruvian  code 
may  be  thought  to  infer  a  state  of  society  but  little  ad- 
vanced, which  had  few  of  those  complex  interests  and 
relations  that  grow  up  in  a  civilized  community,  and 
which  had  not  proceeded  far  enough  in  the  science  of 
legislation  to  economize  human  suffering  by  propor- 
tioning penalties  to  crimes.  But  the  Peruvian  institu- 
tions must  be  regarded  from  a  different  point  of  view 

8  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib. 
4,  cap.  3. — Theft  was  punished  less  severely  if  the  offender  had  been 
really  guilty  of  it  to  supply  the  necessities  of  life.     It  is  a  singular 
circumstance  that  the  Peruvian  law  made  no  distinction  between  forni- 
cation and  adultery,  both  being  equally  punished  with  death.     Yet 
the  law  could  hardly  have  been  enforced,  since  prostitutes  were 
assigned,  or  at  least  allowed,  a  residence  in  the  suburbs  of  the  cities. 
See  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  4,  cap.  34. 

9  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  23. — "  I  los  traidores  entre  ellos 
llamava  aucaes,  i  esta  palabra  es  la  mas  abiltada  de  todas  quantas  pue- 
den  decir  aun  Indio  del  Pini,  que  quiere  decir  traidor  &  su  Senor." 
(Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Pini,  MS.)     "  En  las  rebeliones  y  alzamientos  se 
hicieron  los  castigos  tan  asperos,  que  algunas  veces  asolaron  las  pro- 
vincias  de  todos  los  varones  de  edad  sin  quedar  ninguno."     Onde- 
gardo, Rel.  Prim.,  MS. 


PftOl'/S/ONS    FOR  JUSTICE.  49 

from  that  in  which  we  study  those  of  other  nations. 
The  laws  emanated  from  the  sovereign,  and  that  sov- 
ereign held  a  divine  commission  and^vas  possessed  of 
a  divine  nature.  To  violate  the  law  was  not  only  to 
insult  the  majesty  of  the  throne,  but  it  was  sacrilege. 
The  slightest  offence,  viewed  in  this  light,  merited 
death  ;  and  the  gravest  could  incur  no  heavier  pen- 
alty.10 Yet  in  the  infliction  of  their  punishments  they 
showed  no  unnecessary  cruelty  ;  and  the  sufferings  of 
the  victim  were  not  prolonged  by  the  ingenious  tor- 
ments so  frequent  among  barbarous  nations." 

These  legislative  provisions  may  strike  us  as  very 
defective,  even  as  compared  with  those  of  the  semi- 
civilized  races  of  Anahuac,  where  a  gradation  of  courts, 
moreover,  with  the  right  of  appeal,  afforded  a  tolerable 
security  for  justice.  Hut  in  a  country  like  Peru,  where 
few  but  criminal  causes  were  known,  the  right  of  ap- 
peal was  of  less  consequence.  The  law  was  simple,  its 
application  easy  ;  and,  where  the  judge  was  honest,  the 
case  was  as  likely  to  be  determined  correctly  on  the 
first  hearing  as  on  the  second.  The  inspection  of  the 
board  of  visitors,  and  the  monthly  returns  of  the  tri- 
bunals, afforded  no  slight  guarantee  for  their  integrity. 

10  "  El  castigo  era  riguroso,  que  por  la  mayor  parte  era  de  muerle, 
por  liviano  que  fuese  el  delito ;  porque  decian,  que  no  los  castigavan 
por  el  delito  que  avian  hecho,  ni  por  la  ofensa  agena,  sino  por  aver 
quebrantado  el  mandamiento,  y  rompido  la  palabra  del  Inca,  que  lo 
respetavan  como  a  Dios."     Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  2, 
cap.  12. 

11  One  of  the  punishments  most  frequent  for  minor  offences  was  to 
carry  a  stone  on  the  back.     A  punishment  attended  with  no  suffering 
but  what  arises  from  the  disgrace  attached  to  it  is  very  justly  char- 
acterized by  McCulloh  as  a  proof  of  sensibility  and  refinement.     Re- 
•earches,  p.  361. 

Peru. — VOL.  I. — c  5 


50  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE    INCAS. 

The  law  which  required  a  decision  within  five  days 
would  seem  little  suited  to  the  complex.and  embarrass- 
ing litigation  of  a  modern  tribunal.  But,  in  the  simple 
questions  submitted  to  the  Peruvian  judge,  delay  would 
have  been  useless;  and  the  Spaniards,  familiar  with 
the  evils  growing  out  of  long-protracted  suits,  where 
the  successful  litigant  is  too  often  a  ruined  man,  are 
loud  in  their  encomiums  of  this  swift-handed  and  eco- 
nomical justice." 

•  The  fiscal  regulations  of  the  Incas,  and  the  laws  re- 
specting property,  are  the  most  remarkable  features  in 
the  Peruvian  polity.  The  whole  territory  of  the  empire 
was  divided  into  three  parts,  one  for  the  Sun,  another 
for  the  Inca,  and  the  last  for  the  people.  Which  of  the 
three  was  the  largest  is  doubtful.  The  proportions  dif- 
fered materially  in  different  provinces.  The  distribu- 
tion, indeed,  was  made  on  the  same  general  principle, 
as  each  new  conquest  was  added  to  the  monarchy  ;  but 
the  proportion  varied  according  to  the  amount  of 
population,  and  the  greater  or  less  amount  of  land 
consequently  required  for  the  support  of  the  inhabit- 
ants.13 

12  The  Royal  Audience  of  Peru  under  Philip  II. — there  cannot  be 
a  higher  authority— bears  emphatic  testimony  to  the  cheap  and  effi- 
cient administration  of  justice  under  the  Incas :  "  De  suerte  que  los 
vicios  eran  bien  castigados  y  la  gente  estaba  bien  sujeta  y  pbediente  ; 
y  aunque  en  las  dichas  penas  havia  esceso.  redundaba  en  buen  go- 
vierno  y  policia  suya,  y  mediante  ella  eran  aumentados.  .  .  .  Porque 
los  Yndios  alababan  la  governacion  del  Ynga.  y  aun  los  Espaftoles 
que  algo  alcanzan  de  ella,  es  porque  todas  las  cosas  siisodichas  se  de- 
terminaban  sin  hacerles  costas."  Dec.de  la' Aud.  Real.,  MS. 

J3  Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  15. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  5, 
cap.  i. — "  Si  estas  partes  fuesen  iguales,  o  qual  fuese  mayor,  yo  lo  he 
procurado  averiguar,  y  en  unas  es  diferente  de  otras,  y  finalm*  yo 


DIVISION  OF  LANDS.  51 

The  lands  assigned  to  the  Sun  furnished  a  revenue 
to  support  the  temples  and  maintain  the  costly  cere- 
monial of  the  Peruvian  worship  and  the  multitudinous 
priesthood.  Those  reserved  for  the  Inca  went  to  sup- 
port the  royal  state,  as  well  as  the  numerous  members 
of  his  household  and  his  kindred,  and  supplied  the 
various  exigencies  of  government.  The  remainder  of 
the  lands  was  divided,  per  capita,  in  equal  shares 
among  the  people.  It  was  provided  by  law,  as  we 
shall  see  hereafter,  that  every  Peruvian  should  marry 
at  a  certain  age.  When  this  event  took  place,  the 
community  or  district  in  which  he  lived  furnished  him 
with  a  dwelling,  which,  as  it  was  constructed  of  humble 
materials,  was  done  at  little  cost.  A  lot  of  land  was 
then  assigned  to  him  sufficient  for  his  own  mainte- 
nance and  that  of  his  wife.  An  additional  portion  was 
granted  for  every  child,  the  amount  allowed  for  a  son 
being  the  double  of  that  for  a  daughter.  The  division 
of  the  soil  was  renewed  every  year,  and  the  possessions 
of  the  tenant  were  increased  or  diminished  according 
to  the  numbers  in  his  family.14  The  same  arrangement 
was  observed  with  reference  to  the  curacas,  except  only 
that  a  domain  was  assigned  to  them  corresponding  with 
the  superior  dignity  of  their  stations.'5 
tengo  entendido  qne  se  hacia  conforme  &  la  disposicion  de  la  tierra  y 
&  la  calidad  de  los  Indios."  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. 

»4  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i, 
lib.  5,  cap.  2. — The  portion  granted  to  each  new-married  couple,  ac- 
cording to  Garcilasso,  was  z.fanega  and  a  half  of  land.  A  similar 
quantity  was  added  for  each  male  child  that  was  born,  and  half  of  the 
quantity  for  each  female.  The/anega  was  as  much  land  as  could  be 
planted  with  a  hundred-weight  of  Indian  corn.  In  the  fruitful  soil  of 
Peru,  this  was  a  liberal  allowance  for  a  family. 

>s  Ibid.,  Parte  i,  lib.  5,  cap.  3. — It  is  singular  that,  while  so  much  JJ 


52  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

A  more  thorough  and  effectual  agrarian  law  than  this 
cannot  be  imagined.  In  other  countries  where  such  a 
law  has  been  introduced,  its  operation,  after  a  time, 
has  given  way  to  the  natural  order  of  events,  and, 
under  the  superior  intelligence  and  thrift  of  some  and 
the  prodigality  of  others,  the  usual  vicissitudes  of  for- 
tune have  been  allowed  to  take  their  course  and  restore 
things  to  their  natural  inequality.  Even  the  iron  law 
of  Lycurgus  ceased  to  operate  after  a  time,  and  melted 
away  before  the  spirit  of  luxury  and  avarice.  The 
nearest  approach  to  the  Peruvian  constitution  was 
probably  in  Judea,  where,  on  the  recurrence  of  the 
great  national  jubilee,  at  the  close  of  every  half-cen- 
tury, estates  reverted  to  their  original  proprietors. 
There  was  this  important  difference  in  Peru ;  that  not 
only  did  the  lease,  if  we  may  so  call  it,  terminate  with 
the  year,  but  during  that  period  the  tenant  had  no 
power  to  alienate  or  to  add  to  his  possessions.  The 
end  of  the  brief  term  found  him  in  precisely  the  same 
condition  that  he  was  in  at  the  beginning.  Such  a 
state  of  things  might  be  supposed  to  be  fatal  to  any 
thing  like  attachment  to  the  soil,  or  to  that  desire  of 
improving  it  which  is  natural  to  the  permanent  proprie- 

said  of  the  Inca  sovereign,  so  little  should  be  said  of  the  Inca  nobil- 
ity, of  their  estates,  or  the  tenure  by  which  they  held  them.  Their 
historian  tells  us  that  they  had  the  best  of  the  lands,  wherever  they 
resided,  besides  the  interest  which  they  had  in  those  of  the  Sun  and  the 
Inca,  as  children  of  the  one  and  kinsmen  of  the  other.  He  informs 
us,  also,  that  they  were  supplied  from  the  royal  table  when  living  at. 
court  (lib.  6,  cap.  3).  But  this  is  very  loose  language.  The  student 
of  history  will  learn,  on  the  threshold,  that  he  is  not  to  expect  precise, 
or  even  very  consistent,  accounts  of  the  institutions  of  a  barbarouj 
age  and  people  from  contemporary  annalists. 


DIVISION    OF  LANDS. 


53 


tor,  and  hardly  less  so  to  the  holder  of  a  long  lease. 
But  the  practical  operation  of  the  law  seems  to  have 
been  otherwise ;  and  it  is  probable  that,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  that  love  of  order  and  aversion  to  change 
which  marked  the  Peruvian  institutions,  each  new  par- 
tition of  the  soil  usually  confirmed  the  occupant  in  his 
possession,  and  the  tenant  for  a  year  was  converted  into 
a  proprietor  for  life. 

The  territory  was  cultivated  wholly  by  the  people. 
The  lands  belonging  to  the  Sun  were  first  attended  to. 
They  next  tilled  the  lands  of  the  old,  of  the  sick,  of 
the  widow  and  the  orphan,  and  of  soldiers  engaged  in 
actual  service ;  in  short,  of  all  that  part  of  the  com- 
munity who,  from  bodily  infirmity  or  any  other  cause, 
were  unable  to  attend  to  their  own  concerns.  The 
people  were  then  allowed  to  work  on  their  own  ground, 
each  man  for  himself,  but  with  the  general  obligation 
to  assist  his  neighbor  when  any  circumstance — the  bur- 
den of  a  young  and  numerous  family,  for  example— 
might  demand  it.'6  Lastly,  they  cultivated  the  lands 
of  the  Inca.  This  was  done,  with  great  ceremony,  by 
the  whole  population  in  a  body.  At  break  of  day  they 
were  summoned  together  by  proclamation  from  some 
neighboring  tower  or  eminence,  and  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  district,  men,  women,  and  children,  appeared 
dressed  in  their  gayest  apparel,  bedecked  with  their 
little  store  of  finery  and  ornaments,  as  if  for  some 
great  jubilee.  They  went  through  the  labors  of  the 

16  Garcilasso  relates  that  an  Indian  was  hanged  by  Huayna  Capac 
for  tilling  the  ground  of  a  curaca,  his  near  relation,  before  that  of  the 
poor.  The  gallows  was  erected  on  the  curaca's  own  land.  Com 
Real..  Parte  i.  lib.  5.  cap.  2. 

5* 


54  CIVILIZATION    OF   THE   INCAS. 

day  with  the  same  joyous  spirit,  chanting  their  popular 
ballads  which  commemorated  the  heroic  deeds  of  the 
Incas,  regulating  their  movements  by  the  measure  of 
the  chant,  and  all  mingling  in  the  chorus,  of  which  the 
word  hailli,  or  "triumph,"  was  usually  the  burden. 
These  national  airs  had  something  soft  and  pleasing -in 
their  character,  that  recommended  them  to  the  Span- 
iards ;  and  many  a  Peruvian  song  was  set  to  music  by 
them  after  the  Conquest,  and  was  listened  to  by  the 
unfortunate  natives  with  melancholy  satisfaction,  as  it 
called  up  recollections  of  the  past,  when  their  days 
glided  peacefully  away  under  the  sceptre  of  the  Incas.'7 
A  similar  arrangement  prevailed  with  respect  to  the 
different  manufactures  as  to  the  agricultural  products 
of  the  country.  The  flocks  of  llamas,  or  Peruvian 
sheep,  were  appropriated  exclusively  to  the  Sun  and  to 
the  Inca.18  Their  number  was  immense.  They  were 
scattered  over  the  different  provinces,  chiefly  in  the 
colder  regions  of  the  country,  where  they  were  in- 
trusted to  the  care  of  experienced  shepherds,  who 
conducted  them  to  different  pastures  according  to  the 
change  of  season.  A  large  number  was  every  year 
sent  to  the  capital  for  the  consumption  of  the  court, 
and  for  the  religious  festivals  and  sacrifices.  But  these 
were  only  the  males,  as  no  female  was  allowed  to  be 

'7  Garcilassor  Com.  Real.,  Parte  I,  lib.  5,  cap.  1-3.— Ondegardo. 
Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 

18  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS.— Yet  sometimes  the  sovereign  would 
recompense  some  great  chief,  or  even  some  one  among  the  people, 
who  had  rendered  him  a  service,  by  the  grant  of  a  small  number  of 
llamas,— never  many.  These  were  not  to  be  disposed  of  or  killed  by 
their  owners,  but  descended  as  common  property  to  their  heirs.  This 
strange  arrangement  proved  a  fruitful  source  of  litigation  after  the 
Conquest.  IhicJ.,  ubi  supra. 


REVENUES  AND   REGISTERS.  55 

killed.  The  regulations  for  the  care  and  breeding  of 
these  flocks  were  prescribed  with  the  greatest  minute- 
ness, and  with  a  sagacity  which  excited  the  admiration 
of  the  Spaniards,  who  were  familiar  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  great  migratory  flocks  of  merinos  in  their 
own  country.'9 

At  the  appointed  season  they  were  all  sheared,  and 
the  wool  was  deposited  in  the  public  magazines.  It 
was  then  dealt  out  to  each  family  in  such  quantities  as 
sufficed  for  its  wants,  and  was  consigned  to  the  female 
part  of  the  household,  who  were  well  instructed  in  the 
business  of  spinning  and  weaving.  When  this  labor 
was  accomplished,  and  the  family  was  provided  with  a 
coarse  but  warm  covering,  suited  to  the  cold  climate 
of  the  mountains, — for  in  the  lower  country  cotton, 
furnished  in  like  manner  by  the  crown,  took  the  place, 
to  a  certain  extent,  of  wool, — the  people  were  required 
to  labor  for  the  Inca.  The  quantity  of  the  cloth 
needed,  as  well  as  the  peculiar  kind  and  quality  of  the 
fabric,  was  first  determined  at  Cuzco.  The  work  was 
then  apportioned  among  the  different  provinces.  Offi- 
cers appointed  for  the  purpose  superintended  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  wool,  so  that  the  manufacture  of  the 
different  articles  should  be  intrusted  to  the  most  com- 
petent hands.20  They  did  not  leave  the  matter  here, 
but  entered  the  dwellings,  from  time  to  time,  and  saw 

'»  See  especially  the  account  of  the  Licentiate  Ondegardo,  who  goes 
into  more  detail  than  any  contemporary  writer  concerning  the  man- 
agement of  the  Peruvian  flocks.  Rel.  Seg..  MS. 

20  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim,  et  Seg.,  MSS.— The  manufacture  of  cloths 
for  the  Inca  included  those  for  the  numerous  persons  of  the  blood 
royal,  who  wore  garments  of  a  finer  texture  than  was  permitted  to  any 
other  Peruvian.  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  5,  cap.  6. 


5  6  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

that  the  work  was  faithfully  executed.  This  domestic 
inquisition  was  not  confined  to  the  labors  for  the  Inca. 
It  included,  also,  those  for  the  several  families ;  and 
care  was  taken  that  each  household  should  employ  the 
materials  furnished  for  its  own  use  in  the  manner  that 
was  intended,  so  that  no  one  should  be  unprovided 
with  necessary  apparel.21  In  this  domestic  labor  all 
the  female  part  of  the  establishment  was  expected  to 
join.  Occupation  was  found  for  all,  from  the  child 
five  years  old  to  the  aged  matron  not  too  infirm  to  hold 
a  distaff.  No  one,  at  least  none  but  the  decrepit  and 
the  sick,  was  allowed  to  eat  the  bread  of  idleness  in 
Peru.  Idleness  was  a  crime  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  and, 
as  such,  severely  punished ;  while  industry  was  publicly 
commended  and  stimulated  by  rewards." 

The  like  course  was  pursued  with  reference  to  the 
other  requisitions  of  the  government.  All  the  mines  in 
the  kingdom  belonged  to  the  Inca.  They  were  wrought 
exclusively  for  his  benefit,  by  persons  familiar  with  this 
service  and  selected  from  the  districts  where  the  mines 
were  situated.23  Every  Peruvian  of  the  lower  class  was 

21  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS.— Acosta.  lib.  6,  cap.  15. 

22  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i.  lib. 
5.  cap.  ii. 

23  Ga/cilasso  would  have  us  believe  that  the  Inca  was  indebted  to 
the  curacas  for  his  gold  and  silver,  which  were  furnished  by  the  great 
vassals  as  presents.     (Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  5.  cap.  7.)    This  im- 
probable statement  is  contradicted  by  the  Report  of  the  Royal  Audi- 
ence, MS.,  by  Sarmiento  (Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  15),  and  by  Ondegardo 
(Rel.  Prim.,  MS.),  who  all  speak  of  the  mines  as  the  property  of  the 
government  and  wrought  exclusively  for  its  benefit.     From  this  reser- 
voir the  proceeds  were  liberally  dispensed  in  the  form  of  presents 
among  the  great  lords,  and  still  more  for  the  embellishment  of  the 
temples. 


REVENUES    AND    REGISTERS. 


57 


a  husbandman,  and,  with  the  exception  of  those  al- 
ready specified,  was  expected  to  provide  for  his  own 
support  by  the  cultivation  of  his  land.  A  small  por- 
tion of  the  community,  however,  was  instructed  in 
mechanical  arts, — some  of  them  of  the  more  elegant 
kind,  subservient  to  the  purposes  of  luxury  and  orna- 
ment. The  demand  for  these  was  chiefly  limited  to 
the  sovereign  and  his  court ;  but  the  labor  of  a  larger 
number  of  hands  was  exacted  for  the  execution  of  the 
great  public  works  which  covered  the  land.  The  na- 
ture and  amount  of  the  services  required  were  all  de- 
termined at  Cuzeo  by  commissioners  well  instructed  in 
the  resources  of  the  country  and  in  the  character  of 
the  inhabitants  of  different  provinces."4 

This  information  was  obtained  by  an  admirable  regu- 
lation, which  has  scarcely  a  counterpart  in  the  annals 
of  a  semi-civilized  people.  A  register  was  kept  of  all 
the  births  and  deaths  throughout  the  country,  and 
exact  returns  of  the  actual  population  were  made  to 
the  government  every  year,  by  means  of  the  quipus,  a 
curious  invention,  which  will  be  explained  hereafter.*5 
At  certain  intervals,  also,  a  general  survey  of  the  coun- 
try was  made,  exhibiting  a  complete  view  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  soil,  its  fertility,  the  nature  of  its  products, 

"*  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i.  lib.  5,  cap.  13-16. — Ondegardo, 
Rel.  Prim,  et  Seg.,  MSS. 

»s  Montesinos,  Mem.  antiguas,  MS.,  lib.  2,  cap.  6. — Pedro  Pizarro, 
Relacion  del  Descubrimiento  y  Conquista  de  los  Reynos  del  Peru, 
MS. — "  Cada  provincia,  en  fin  del  ano,  mandavaasentar  en  losquipos, 
por  la  cuenta  de  sus  nudos,  todos  los  hombres  que  habian  muerto  en 
ella  en  aquel  ano,  y  por  el  consiguiente  los  que  habian  nacido,  y  por 
principio  del  ano  que  entraba,  venian  con  los  quipos  al  Cuzco."  Sar- 
miento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  16. 


5  8  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE   INC  AS. 

both  agricultural  and  mineral, — in  short,  of  all  that 
constituted  the  physical  resources  of  the  empire.*5 
Furnished  with  these  statistical  details,  it  was  easy  for 
the  government,  after  determining  the  amount  of  re- 
quisitions, to  distribute  the  work  among  the  respective 
provinces  best  qualified  to  execute  it.  The  task  of 
apportioning  the  labor  was  assigned  to  the  local  au- 
thorities, and  great  care  was  taken  that  it  should  be 
done  in  such  a  manner  that,  while  the  most  competent 
hands  were  selected,  the  weight  should  not  fall  dis- 
proportionately on  any.27 

The  different  provinces  of  the  country  furnished 
persons  peculiarly  suited  to  different  employments, 
which,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  usually  descended 
from  father  to  son.  Thus,  one  district  supplied  those 
most  skilled  in  working  the  mines,  another  the  most 
curious  workers  in  metals  or  in  wood,  and  so  on.28 
The  artisan  was  provided  by  government  with  the  ma- 
terials ;  and  no  one  was  required  to  give  more  than  a 
stipulated  portion  of  his  time  to  the  public  service. 
He  was  then  succeeded  by  another  for  the  like  term  ; 
and  it  should  be  observed  that  all  who  were  engaged 
in  the  employment  of  the  government — and  the  remark 
applies  equally  to  agricultural  labor— were  maintained, 

26  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte,  i,  lib.  2,  cap.  14. 

^Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS.— Sarmiento,  Rel..  MS.,  cap.  15.— 
"  Presupuesta  y  entendida  la  dicha  division  que  el  Inga  tenia  hecha 
de  su  gente,  y  orden  que  tenia  puesta  en  el  govierao  de  ella,  era  muy 
facil  haverla  en  la  division  y  cobranza  de  losdichos  tributes  ;  porque 
era  claro  y  cierto  lo  que  &  cada  uno  cabia  sin  que  hubiese  desigualdad 
ni  engano."  Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.',  MS. 

"SSar'miento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  15.— Ondegardo.  Rel.  Seg.. 
MS. 


REVENUES   AND    REGISTERS.  59 

for  the  time,  at  the  public  expense.99  By  this  constant 
rotation  of  labor  it  was  intended  that  no  one  should 
be  overburdened,  and  that  each  man  should  have  time 
to  provide  for  the  demands  of  his  own  household.  It 
was  impossible — in  the  judgment  of  a  high  Spanish 
authority — to  improve  on  the  system  of  distribution, 
so  carefully  was  it  accommodated  to  the  condition  and 
comfort  of  the  artisan.30  The  security  of  the  working- 
classes  seems  to  have  been  ever  kept  in  view  in  the  regu- 
lations of  the  government ;  and  these  were  so  discreetly 
arranged  that  the  most  wearing  and  unwholesome  la- 
bors, as  those  of  the  mines,  occasioned  no  detriment 
to  the  health  of  the  laborer ;  a  striking  contrast  to  his 
subsequent  condition  under  the  Spanish  rule.31 

A  part  of  the  agricultural  produce  and  manufactures 
was  transported  to  Cuzco,  to  minister  to  the  immediate 
demands  of  the  Inca  and  his  court.  But  far  the  greater 
part  was  stored  in  magazines  scattered  over  the  different 
provinces.  These  spacious  buildings,  constructed  of 
stone,  were  divided  between  the  Sun  and  the  Inca, 
though  the  greater  share  seems  to  have  been  appro- 
priated by  the  monarch.  By  a  wise  regulation,  any 
deficiency  in  the  contributions  of  the  Inca  might  be 

^Ondcgardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i, 
lib.  5,  cap.  5. 

3°  "  Y  tambien  se  tenia  cuenta  que  el  trabajo  que  pasavan  fuese 
moderado,  y  con  el  menos  riesgo  que  fuese  posible.  .  .  .  Era  tanta  la 
orden  que  tuvieron  estos  Indies,  que  &  mi  parecer  aunque  mucho  se 
piense  en  ello  seria  dificultoso  mejorarla  conocida  su  condicion  y  cos- 
tumbres."  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. 

3'  "  The  working  of  the  mines,"  says  the  President  of  the  Council 
of  the  Indies,  "  was  so  regulated  that  no  one  felt  it  a  hardship,  much 
was  his  life  shortened  by  it."  (Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap. 

.)     It  is  a  frank  admission  fora  Spaniard. 


60  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

supplied  from  the  granaries  of  the  Sun.33  But  such  a 
necessity  could  rarely  have  happened ;  and  the  provi- 
dence of  the  government  usually  left  a  large  surplus  in 
the  royal  depositories,  which  was  removed  to  a  third 
class  of  magazines,  whose  design  was  to  supply  the 
people  in  seasons  of  scarcity,  and,  occasionally,  to 
furnish  relief  to  individuals  whom  sickness  or  misfor- 
tune had  reduced  to  poverty ;  thus  in  a  manner  justify- 
ing the  assertion  of  a  Castilian  document,  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  revenues  of  the  Inca  found  its  way  back 
again,  through  one  channel  or  another,  into. the  hands 
of  the  people.33  These  magazines  were  found  by  the 
Spaniards,  on  their  arrival,  stored  with  all  the  various 
products  and  manufactures  of  the  country, — with  maize, 
coca,  quintta,  woollen  and  cotton  stuffs  of  the  finest 
quality,  with  vases  and  utensils  of  gold,  silver,  and 
copper,  in  short,  with  every  article  of  luxury  or  use 
within  the  compass  of  Peruvian  skill.34  The  magazines 

3*  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i.  lib.  5.  cap.  34.— Ondegardo,  Rel. 
Prim.,  MS. — "  E  asi  esta  parte  del  Inga  no  hay  duda  sino  que  de  todas 
tres  era  la  mayor,  y  en  los  depositos  se  parece  bien  que  y6  visile1 
muchos  en  diferentes  partes,  e  son  mayores  e  mas  largos  que  n6  los 
de  su  religion  sin  comparasion."  Idem,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 

33"Todos  los  dichos  tributes  y  servicios  que  el  Inga  imponia  y 
llevaba  como  dicho  es  eran  con  color  y  para  efecto  del  govierno  y 
pro  comun  de  todos,  asi  como  lo  que  se  ponia  en  depositos  todo  se 
combertia  y  distribuia  entre  los  mismos  naturales."  Dec.  de  la  Aud. 
Real.,  MS. 

34  Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  15.—"  No  podre  decir."  says  one  of  the  Con- 
querors, ' '  los  depositos.  Vide  de  rropas  y  de  todos  generos  de  rropas 
y  vestidos  que  en  este  reino  se  hacian  y  vsavan  que  faltava  tiempo 
para  vello  y  entendimiento  para  comprender  tanta  cosa.  muchos  de- 
positos de  barretas  de  cobre  para  las  minas  y  de  costales  y  sogas  de 
vasos  de  palo  y  platos  del  oro  y  plata  que  aqui  se  hallo  hera  cosa 
dospanto."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 


REVENUES   AND    REGISTERS.  6 1 

of  grain,  in  particular,  would  frequently  have  sufficed 
for  the  consumption  of  the  adjoining  district  for  several 
years.35  An  inventory  of  the  various  products  of  the 
country,  and  the  quarters  whence  they  were  obtained, 
was  every  year  taken  by  the  royal  officers,  and  recorded 
by  the  </uif>ucarnayus  on  their  registers,  with  surprising 
regularity  and  precision.  These  registers  were  trans- 
mitted to  the  capital  and  submitted  to  the  Inca,  who 
could  thus  at  a  glance,  as  it  were,  embrace  the  whole 
results  of  the  national  industry  and  see  how  far  they 
corresponded  with  the  requisitions  of  the  government.36 
Such  are  some  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the 
Peruvian  institutions  relating  to  property,  as  delineated 
by  writers  who,  however  contradictory  in  the  details, 
have  a  general  conformity  of  outline.  These  institu- 
tions are  certainly  so  remarkable  that  it  is  hardly 
credible  they  should  ever  have  been  enforced  through- 
out a  great  empire  and  for  a  long  period  of  years.  Yet 
we  have  the  most  unequivocal  testimony  to  the  fact 
from  the  Spaniards,  who  landed  in  Peru  in  time  to 
witness  their  operation  ;  some  of  whom,  men  of  high 
judicial  station  and  character,  were  commissioned  by 
the  government  to  make  investigations  into  the  state 
of  the  country  under  its  ancient  rulers. 

35  For  ten  years,  sometimes,  if  we  may  credit  Ondegardo,  who  had 
every  means  of  knowing :  "  £  ansi  cuando  n6  era  menester  se  estaba 
en  los  depositos  e  habiaalgunas  vezes  comida  de  diez  anos.  .  .  .  Los 
cuales  todos  se  hallaron  llenos  cuando  llegaron  los  Espanoles  desto  y 
de  todas  las  cosas  necesarias  para  la  vida  humana."  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 

s6  Ondegardo,  Rel.   Prim.,  MS. — "  Por  tanta  orden  e  cuenta  que 
seria  dificujtoso  creerlo  ni  darlo  ;i  entender  como  ellos  lo  tienen  en  su 
cuenta  6  por  registros  e  por  menudo  lo  manifestaron  que  se  pudiera 
por  estenso."     Idem,  Rel.  Sjg.,  MS. 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  6 


62  CIVILIZATION  Of    THE 

The  impositions  on  the  Peruvian  people  seem  to  have 
been  sufficiently  heavy.  On  them  rested  the  whole 
burden  of  maintaining  not  only  their  own  order,  but 
every  other  order  in  the  state.  The  members  of  the 
royal  house,  the  great  nobles,  even  the  public  function- 
aries, and  the  numerous  body  of  the  priesthood,  were 
all  exempt  from  taxation.37  The  whole  duty  of  defray- 
ing the  expenses  of  the  government  belonged  to  the 
people.  Yet  this  was  not  materially  different  from  the 
condition  of  things  formerly  existing  in  most  parts  of 
Europe,  where  the  various  privileged  classes  claimed 
exemption — not  always  with  success,  indeed — from 
bearing  part  of  the  public  burdens.  The  great  hard- 
ship in  the  case  of  the  Peruvian  was  that  he  could  not 
better  his  condition.  His  labors  were  for  others,  rather 
than  for  himself.  However  industrious,  he  could  not 
add  a  rood  to  his  own  possessions,  nor  advance  himself 
one  hair's  breadth  in  the  social  scale.  The  great  and 
universal  motive  to  honest  industry,  that  of  bettering 
one's  lot,  was  lost  upon  him.  The  great  law  of  human 
progress  was  not  for  him.  As  he  was  born,  so  he  was 
to  die.  Even  his  time  he  could  not  properly  call  his 
own.  Without  money,  with  little  property  of  any 
kind,  he  paid  his  tatfes  in  labor.38  No  wonder  that  the 
government  should  have  dealt  with  sloth  as  a  crime. 
It  was  a  crime  against  the  state,  and  to  be  wasteful  of 
time  was,  in  a  manner,  to  rob  the  exchequer.  The 
Peruvian,  laboring  all  his  life  for  others,  might  be  com- 
pared to  the  convict  in  a  treadmill,  going  the  same  dull 

37  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  5,  cap.  15. 
3s"  Solo  el  trabajo  de  las  personas  era  el  tribute  que  se  dava,  porque 
ellos  no  poseian  otra  cosa."     Ondegardo.  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. 


REVENUES   A  AD    A'£G/ST£AS.  63 

round  of  incessant  toil,  with  the  consciousness  that, 
however  profitable  the  results  to  the  state,  they  were 
nothing  to  him. 

But  this  is  the  dark  side  of  the  picture.  If  no  man 
could  become  rich  in  Peru,  no  man  could  become  poor. 
No  spendthrift  could  waste  his  substance  in  riotous 
luxury.  No  adventurous. schemer  could  impoverish  his 
family  by  the  spirit  of  speculation.  The  law  was  con- 
stantly directed  to  enforce  a  steady  industry  and  a  sober 
management  of  his  affairs.  No  mendicant  was  tolerated 
in  Peru.  When  a  man  was  reduced  by  poverty  or  mis- 
fortune (it  could  hardly  be  by  fault),  the  arm  of  the 
law  was  stretched  out  to  minister  relief;  not  the  stinted 
relief  of  private  charity,  nor  that  which  is  doled  out, 
drop  by  drop,  as  it  were,  from  the  frozen  reservoirs  of 
"the  parish,"  but  in  generous  measure,  bringing  no 
humiliation  to  the  object  of  it,  and  placing  him  on  a 
level  with  the  rest  of  his  countrymen. » 

No  man  coujd  be  rich,  no  man  could  be  poor,  in 

x  "  Era  tanta  la  orden  que  tenia  en  todos  sus  Reinos  y  provincias, 
que  no  consentia  haver  ningun  Indio  pobre  ni  menesteroso,  porque 
havi.i  orden  i  formas  para  ello  sin  que  los  pueblos  reciviesen  vexacion 
ni  molestia,  porque  el  Inga  lo  suplia  de  sus  tributes."  (Conq.  i  Fob. 
del  Piru,  MS.)  The  Licentiate  Ondegardo  sees  only  a  device  of  Satan 
in  these  provisions  of  the  Peruvian  law.  by  which  the  old.  the  infirm, 
and  the  poor  were  rendered,  in  a  manner,  independent  of  their  chil- 
dren and  those  nearest  of  kin,  on  whom  they  would  naturally  have 
leaned  for  support ;  no  surer  way  to  harden  the  heart,  he  considers, 
than  by  thus  disengaging  it  from  the  sympathies  of  humanity  ;  and  no 
circumstance  has  done  more,  he  concludes,  to  counteract  the  influence 
and  spread  of  Christianity  among  the  natives.  (Rel.  Seg.,  MS.)  The 
views  are  ingenious  ;  but  in  a  country  where  the  people  had  no  prop- 
erty, us  in  Peru,  there  would  seem  to  be  no  alternative  for  the  super- 
numeraries but  to  receive  support  from  government  or  to  starve. 


64  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

Peru;  but  all  might  enjoy,  and  did  enjoy,  a  compe 
tence.  Ambition,  avarice,  the  love  of  change,  the 
morbid  spirit  of  discontent,  those  passions  which  most 
agitate  the  minds  of  men,  found  no  place  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Peruvian.  The  very  condition  of  his  being 
seemed  to  be  at  war  with  change.  He  moved  on  in 
the  same  unbroken  circle  in  which  his  fathers  had 
moved  before  him,  and  in  which  his  children  were  to 
follow.  It  was  the  object  of  the  Incas  to  infuse  into 
their  subjects  a  spirit  of  passive  obedience  and  tran- 
quillity,— a  perfect  acquiescence  in  the  established 
order  of  things.  In  this  they  fully  succeeded.  The 
Spaniards  who  first  visited  the  country  are  emphatic  in 
their  testimony  that  no  government  could  have  been 
better  suited  to  the  genius  of  the  people,  and  no  people 
could  have  appeared  more  contented  with  their  lot  or 
more  devoted  to  their  government.40 

Those  who  may  distrust  the  accounts  of  Peruvian  in- 
dustry will  find  their  doubts  removed  on  a  visit  to  the 
country.  The  traveller  still  meets,  especially  in  the 
central  regions  of  the  table-land,  with  memorials  of  the  . 
past,  remains  of  temples,  palaces,  fortresses,  terraced 
mountains,  great  military  roads,  aqueducts,  and  other 
public  works,  which,  whatever  degree  of  science  they 
may  display  in  their  execution,  astonish  him  by  their  ' 
number,  the  massive  character  of  the  materials,  and 
the  grandeur  of  the  design.  Among  them,  perhaps 
the  most  remarkable  are  the  great  roads,  the  broken 
remains  of  which  are  still  in  sufficient  preservation  to 
attest  their  former  magnificence.  There  were  many 
of  these  roads,  traversing  different  parts  of  the  king- 
<°  Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  12,  15.— Sarmiento.  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  10. 


GREAT   ROADS    AXD    POSTS.  65 

dom  ;  but  the  most  considerable  were  the  two  which 
extended  from  Quito  to  Cuzco,  and,  again  diverging 
from  the  capital,  continued  in  a  southerly  direction 
towards  Chili. 

One  of  these  roads  passed  over  the  grand  plateau, 
and  the  other  along  the  lowlands  on  the  borders  of 
the  ocean.  The  former  was  much  the  more  difficult 
achievement  from  the  character  of  the  country.  It 
was  conducted  over  pathless  sierras  buried  in  snow ; 
galleries  were  cut  for  leagues  through  the  living  rock  ; 
rivers  were  crossed  by  means  of  bridges  that  swung 
suspended  in  the  air ;  precipices  were  scaled  by  stair- 
ways hewn  out  of  the  native  bed ;  ravines  of  hideous 
depth  were  filled  up  with  solid  masonry  :  in  short,  all 
the  difficulties  that  beset  a  wild  and  mountainous 
region,  and  which  might  appall  the  most  courageous 
engineer  of  modern  times,  were  encountered  and  suc- 
cessfully overcome.  The  length  of  the  road,  of  which 
scattered  fragments  only  remain,  is  variously  estimated- 
at  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  miles  ;  and 
stone  pillars,  in  the  manner  of  European  mile-stones, 
were  erected  at  stated  intervals  of  somewhat  more  than 
a  league,  all  along  the  route.  Its  breadth  scarcely  ex- 
ceeded twenty  feet.41  It  was  built  of  heavy  flags  of 

4«  Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS. — "  Este  camino  hecho  por  valles  on- 
dos  y  por  sierras  alias,  por  monies  de  nieve,  por  tremedales  de  agua 
y  por  pena  viva  y  junto  a  rios  furiosos  por  estas  partes  y  ballano  y 
cmpedrado  por  las  laderas,  bien  sacado  por  las  sierras,  deshechado, 
por  las  penas  socavado,  por  junto  a  los  Rios  sus  paredes,  entre  nieves 
con  escalones  y  descanso,  por  todas  partes  limpio  barrido  descom- 
brado,  lleno  de  aposentos,  de  depositos  de  tesoros,  de  Templos  del 
Sol,  de  Postas  que  havia  en  este  camino."  Sarmiento,  Relation. 
MS.,  cap.  60. 

6* 


66  CIVILIZATION  OF    TI1K    /.VC./.V. 

freestone,  and,  in  some  parts  at  least,  covered  with  a 
bituminous  cement,  which  time  has  made  harder  than 
the  stone  itself.  In  some  places,  where  the  ravines 
had  been  filled  up  with  masonry,  the  mountain-tor- 
rents, wearing  on  it  for  ages,  have  gradually  eaten  a 
way  through  the  base,  and  left  the  superincumbent 
mass — such  is  the  cohesion  of  the  materials — still  span- 
ning the  valley  like  an  arch  !  *3 

Over  some  of  the  boldest  streams  it  was  necessary  to 
construct  suspension-bridges,  as  they  are  termed,  made 
of  the  tough  fibres  of  the  maguey,  or  of  the  osier  of 
the  country,  which  has  an  extraordinary  degree  of 
tenacity  and  strength.  These  osiers  were  woven  into 
cables  of  the  thickness  of  a  man's  body.  The  huge 
ropes,  then  stretched  across  the  water,  were  conducted 
through  rings  or  holes  cut  in  immense  buttresses  of 
stone  raised  on  the  opposite  banks  of  the  river  and 
there  secured  to  heavy  pieces  of  timber.  Several  of 
these  enormous  cables,  bound  together,  formed  a 
bridge,  which,  covered  with  planks,  well  secured  and 
defended  by  a  railing  of  the  same  osier  materials  on 
the  sides,  afforded  a  safe  passage  for  the  traveller.  The 
length  of  this  aerial  bridge,  sometimes  exceeding  two 

<*  "  On  avait  comble  les  vides  et  les  ravins  par  de  grandes  masses 
de  ma9onnerie.  Les  torrents  qui  descendent  des  hauteurs  apres  des 
pluies  abondantes  avaient  creus^  les  endroits  les  mains  solides,  et 
s'etaient  fraye  une  voie  sous  le  chemin.  le  laissant  ainsi  suspendu  en 
1'air  comme  un  pont  fait  d'une  seule  piece."  (Velasco,  Hist,  de  Quito. 
torn.  i.  p.  206.)  This  writer  speaks  from  personal  observation,  having 
examined  and  measured  different  parts  ol  the  road,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  last  century.  The  Spanish  scholar  will  find  in  Appendix  No. 
2  an  animated  description  of  this  magnificent  work  and  of  the  ob- 
stacles encountered  in  the  execution  of  it,  in  a  passage  borrowed  from 
Sarmiento,  who  saw  it  in  the  days  of  the  Incas. 


GREAT  ROADS   AND    POSTS.  67 

hundred  feet,  caused  it,  confined  as  it  was  only  at  the 
extremities,  to  dip  with  an  alarming  inclination  to- 
wards the  centre,  while  the  motion  given  to  it  by  the 
passenger  occasioned  an  oscillation  still  more  frightful, 
as  his  eye  wandered  over  the  dark  abyss  of  waters  that 
foamed  and  tumbled  many  a  fathom  beneath.  Yet 
these  light  and  fragile  fabrics  were  crossed  without 
fear  by  the  Peruvians,  and  are  still  retained  by  the 
Spaniards  over  those  streams  which,  from  the  depth  or 
impetuosity  of  the  current,  would  seem  impracticable 
for  the  usual  modes  of  conveyance.  The  wider  and 
more  tranquil  waters  were  crossed  on  balsas — a  kind 
of  raft  still  much  used  by  the  natives — to  which  sails 
were  attached,  furnishing  the  only  instance  of  this 
higher  kind  of  navigation  among  the  American  In- 
dians.43 

The  other  great  road  of  the  Incas  lay  through  the 
level  country  between  the  Andes  and  the  ocean.  It 
was  constructed  in  a  different  manner,  as  demanded  by 
the  nature  of  the  ground,  which  was  for  the  most  part 
low,  and  much  of  it  sandy.  The  causeway  was  raised 
on  a  high  embankment  of  earth,  and  defended  on 
either  side  by  a  parapet  or  wall  of  clay  ;  and  trees  and 
odoriferous  shrubs  were  planted  along  the  margin,  re- 
galing the  sense  of  the  traveller  with  their  perfumes, 
and  refreshing  him  by  their  shades,  so  grateful  under 
the  burning  sky  of  the  tropics.  In  the  strips  of  sandy 

«  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real..  Parte  i,  lib.  3,  cap.  7. — A  particular 
account  of  these  bridges,  as  they  are  still  to  be  seen  in  different  parts 
of  Peru,  may  be  found  in  Humboldt.  (Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  230, 
et  seq.)  The  balsas  are  described  with  equal  minuteness  by  Steven- 
son. Residence  in  America,  vol.  ii.  p.  222,  et  seq. 


68  CIVILIZATION   OF    THE    INC  AS. 

waste  which  occasionally  intervened,  where  the  light 
and  volatile  soil  was  incapable  of  sustaining  a  road,  huge 
piles,  many  of  them  to  be  seen  at  this  day,  were  driven 
into  the  ground  to  indicate  the  route  to  the  traveller.44 
All  along  these  highways,  caravansaries,  or  tamhos, 
as  they  were  called,  were  erected,  at  the  distance  of 
ten  or  twelve  miles  from  each  other,  for  the  accommo- 
dation, more  particularly,  of  the  Inca  and  his  suite 
and  those  who  journeyed  on  the  public  business.  There 
were  few  other  travellers  in  Peru.  Some  of  these  build- 
ings were  on  an  extensive  scale,  consisting  of  a  fortress, 
barracks,  and  other  military  works,  surrounded  by  a 
parapet  of  stone  and  covering  a  large  tract  of  ground. 
These  were  evidently  destined  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  imperial  armies  when  on  their  march  across  the 
country.  The  care  of  the  great  roads  was  committed 
to  the  districts  through  which  they  passed,  and  under 
the  Incas  a  large  number  of  hands  was  constantly  em- 
ployed to  keep  them  in  repair.  This  was  the  more  easily 
done  in  a  country  where  the  mode  of  travelling  was 
'altogether  on  foot ;  though  the  roads  are  said  to  have 
been  so  nicely  constructed  that  a  -carriage  might  have 
rolled  over  'them  as  securely  as  on  any  of  the  great 
roads  of  Europe.45  Still,  in  a  region  where  the  ele- 

**  Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  60.— Relacion  del  primer  Descu- 
brimiento  de  la  Costa  y  Mar  del  Sur.  MS.— This  anonymous  docu- 
ment of  one  of  the  early  Conquerors  contains  a  minute  and  probably 
trustworthy  account  of  both  the  high-roads,  which  the  writer  saw  in 
their  glory,  and  which  he  ranks  among  the  greatest  wonders  of  the 
world. 

45  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS.— Cieza  de  Leon.  Cronica.  cap. 
37.— Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  n.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real., 
Parte  i,  lib.  9,  cap.  13. 


GREAT   ROADS   AND    POSTS.  69 

ments  of  fire  and  water  are  both  actively  at  work  in 
the  business  of  destruction,  they  must,  without  con- 
stant supervision,  have  gradually  gone  to  decay.  Such 
has  been  their  fate  under  the  Spanish  conquerors,  who 
took  no  care  to  enforce  the  admirable  system  for  their 
preservation  adopted  by  the  Incas.  Yet  the  broken 
portions  that  still  survive  here  and  there,  like  the 
fragments  of  the  great  Roman  roads  scattered  over 
Europe,  bear  evidence  to  their  primitive  grandeur, 
and  have  drawn  forth  the  eulogium  from  a  discrimi- 
nating traveller,  usually  not  too  profuse  in  his  pane- 
gyric, that  "the  roads  of  the  Incas  were  among  the 
most  useful  and  stupendous  works  ever  executed  by 
man."  * 

The  system  of  communication  through  their  domin- 
ions was  still  further  improved  by  the  Peruvian  sove- 
reigns by  the  introduction  of  posts,  in  the  same  manner 
as  was  done  by  the  Aztecs.  The  Peruvian  posts,  how- 
ever, established  on  all  the  great  routes  that  conducted 
to  the  capital,  were  on  a  much  more  extended  plan 
than  those  in  Mexico.  All  along  these  routes,  small 
buildings  were  erected,  at  the  distance  of  less  than 

five  miles  asunder,47  in  each  of  which  a  number  of  run- 

\ 

*  "  Cette  chaussee.  bordee  de  grandes  pierres  de  taille,  peut  etre 
comparee  aux  plus  belles  routes  des  Romains  que  j'aie  vues  en  Italic, 
en  France  et  en  Espagne.  .  .  .  Le  grand  chemin  de  1  Inca.  un  des 
ouvrages  les  plus  utiles  et  en  meme  temps  des  plus  gigantesques  que 
les  hommes  aient  execute."  Humboldt.  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  294. 

«7  The  distance  between  the  post-houses  is  variously  stated ;  most 
writers  not  estimating  it  at  more  than  three-fourths  of  a  league.  I 
have  preferred  the  authority  of  Ondegardo.  who  usually  writes  with 
more  conscientiousness  and  knowledge  of  his  ground  than  most  of 
his  contemporaries. 


70  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

ners,  or  chasquis,  as  they  were  called,  were  stationed  to 
carry  forward  the  despatches  of  government.48  These 
despatches  were  either  verbal,  or  conveyed  by  means 
of  quipus,  and  sometimes  accompanied  by  a  thread  of 
the  crimson  fringe  worn  round  the  temples  of  the  Inca, 
which  was  regarded  with  the  same  implicit  deference 
as  the  signet-ring  of  an  Oriental  despot.49 

The  chasquis  were  dressed  in  a  peculiar  livery,  inti- 
mating their  profession.  They  were  all  trained  to  the 
employment,  and  selected  for  their  speed  and  fidelity. 
As  the  distance  each  courier  had  to  perform  was  small, 
and  as  he  had  ample  time  to  refresh  himself  at  the  sta- 
tions, they  ran  over  the  ground  with  great  swiftness, 
and  messages  were  carried  through  the  whole  extent 
of  the  long  routes,  at  the  rate  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  a  day.  The  office  of  the  chasquis  was  not  limited 
to  carrying  despatches.  They  frequently  brought  va- 
rious articles  for  the  use  of  the  court ;  and  in  this  way 
fish  from  the  distant  ocean,  fruits,  game,  and  different 
commodities  from  the  hot  regions  on  the  coast,  were 
taken  to  the  capital  in  good  condition  and  served 
fresh  at  the  royal  table.50  It  is  remarkable  that  this 


*«  The  term  chasqui,  according  to  Montesinos,  signifies  "  one  that 
receives  a  thing."  (Mem.  antiguas,  MS.,  cap.  7.)  But  Garcilasso,  a 
better  authority  for  his  own  tongue,  says  it  meant  "  one  who  makes 
an  exchange."  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  6,  cap.  8. 

«  "  Con  vn  hilo  de  esta  Borla,  entregado  a  uno  de  aquellos  Ore- 
jones,  governaban  laTierra,  i  proveian  lo  que  querian  con  maior  obe- 
diencia,  que  en  ninguna  Provincia  del  Mundo  se  ha  visto  tener  a  las 
Provissiones  de  su  Rei."  Zarate.  Conq.  del  Peru.  lib.  i,  cap.  9. 

so  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  18.— Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real..  MS. 
—If  we  may  trust  Montesinos,  the  royal  table  was  served  with  fish, 
taken  a  hundred  leagues  from  the  capital,  in  twenty-four  hours  after 


GREAT  ROADS   AND    POSTS.  71 

important  institution  should  have  been  known  to  both 
the  Mexicans  and  the  Peruvians  without  any  corre- 
spondence with  one  another,  and  that  it  should  have 
been  found  among  two  barbarian  nations  of  the  New 
World  long  before  it  was  introduced  among  the  civil- 
ized nations  of  Europe.5' 

By  these  wise  contrivances  of  the  Incas,  the  most 
distant  parts  of  the  long-extended  empire  of  Peru  were 
brought  into  intimate  relations  with  each  other.  And 
while  the  capitals  of  Christendom,  but  a  few  hundred 
miles  apart,  remained  as  far  asunder  as  if  seas  had 
rolled  between  them,  the  great  capitals  Cuzco  and 
Quito  were  placed  by  the  high-roads  of  the  Incas  in 
immediate  correspondence.  Intelligence  from  the  nu- 
merous provinces  was  transmitted  on  the  wings  of  the 
wind  to  the  Peruvian  metropolis,  the  great  focus  to 
which  all  the  lines  of  communication  converged.  Not 
an  insurrectionary  movement  could  occur,  not  an  in- 
vasion on  the  remotest  frontier,  before  the  tidings 
were  conveyed  to  the  capital  and  the  imperial  armies 

it  was  drawn  from  the  ocean !  (Mem.  antiguas,  MS.,  lib.  2,  cap.  7.) 
This  is  rather  too  expeditious  for  anything  but  railways. 

s«  The  institution  of  the  Peruvian  posts  seems  to  have  made  a  great 
impression  on  the  minds  of  the  Spaniards  who  first  visited  the  country  ; 
and  ample  notices  of  it  may  be  found  in  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS., 
cap.  15,— Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS.,— Fernandez,  Hist,  del  Peru, 
Parte  2.  lib.  3,  cap.  5,— Conq.  i  Pob.  del  Piru.  MS.,  et  auct.  plurimis. 
— The  establishment  of  posts  is  of  old  date  among  the  Chinese,  and 
probably  still  older  among  the  Persians.  (See  Herodotus,  Hist., 
Urania,  sec.  98.)  It  is  singular  that  an  invention  designed  for  the 
uses  of  a  despotic  government  should  have  received  its  full  application 
only  under  a  free  one.  For  in  it  we  have  the  germ  of  that  beautiful 
system  of  intercommunication  which  binds  all  the  nations  of  Chris- 
tendom together  as  one  vast  commonwealth. 


7  2  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

were  on  their  march  across  the  magnificent  roads  of 
the  country  to  suppress  it.  So  admirable  was  the  ma- 
chinery contrived  by  the  American  despots  for  main- 
taining tranquillity  throughout  their  dominions  !  It 
may  remind  us  of  the  similar  institutions  of  ancient 
Rome,  when,  under  the  Caesars,  she  was  mistress  of 
half  the  world. 

A  principal  design  of  the  great  roads  was  to  serve 
the  purposes  of  military  communication.  It  formed 
an  important  item  of  their  military  policy,  which  is 
quite  as  well  worth  studying  as  their  municipal. 

Notwithstanding  the  pacific  professions  of  the  Incas, 
and  the  pacific  tendency,  indeed,  of  their  domestic  in- 
stitutions, they  were  constantly  at  war.  It  was  by  war 
that  their  paltry  territory  had  been  gradually  enlarged 
to  a  powerful  empire.  When  this  was  achieved,  the 
capital,  safe  in  its  central  position,  was  no  longer 
shaken  by  these  military  movements,  and  the  country 
enjoyed,  in  a  great  degree,  the  blessings  of  tranquillity 
and  order.  But,  however  tranquil  at  heart,  there  is  not 
a  reign  upon  record  in  which  the  nation  was  not  en- 
gaged in  war  against  the  barbarous  nations  on  the  fron- 
tier. Religion  furnished  a  plausible  pretext  for  inces- 
sant aggression,  and  disguised  the  lust  of  conquest  in 
the  Incas,  probably,  from  their  own  eyes,  as  well  as 
from  those  of  their  subjects.  Like  the  followers  of 
Mahomet,  bearing  the  sword  in  one  hand  and  the 
Koran  in  the  other,  the  Incas  of  Peru  offered  no  al- 
ternative but  the  worship  of  the  Sun  or  war. 

It  is  true,  their  fanaticism — or  their  policy — showed 
itself  in  a  milder  form  than  was  found  in  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Prophet.  Like  the  great  luminary  which 


MILITARY    TACTICS    AND    POLICY.  73 

they  adored,  they  operated  by  gentleness,  more  potent 
than  violence.5"  They  sought  to  soften  the  hearts  of 
the  rude  tribes  around  them,  and  melt  them  by  acts  of 
condescension  and  kindness.  Far  from  provoking  hos- 
tilities, they  allowed  time  for  the  salutary  example  of 
their  own  institutions  to  work  its  effect,  trusting  that 
their  less  civilized  neighbors  would  submit  to  their 
sceptre,  from  a  conviction  of  the  blessings  it  would 
secure  to  them.  When  this  course  failed,  they  em- 
ployed other  measures,  but  still  of  a  pacific  character, 
and  endeavored  by  negotiation,  by  conciliatory  treat- 
ment, and  by  presents  to  the  leading  men,  to  win  them 
over  to  their  dominion.  In  short,  they  practised  all 
the  arts  familiar  to  the  most  subtle  politician  of  a  civil- 
ized land  to  secure  the  acquisition  of  empire.  When 
all  these  expedients  failed,  they  prepared  for  war. 

Their  levies  were  drawn  from  all  the  different  prov- 
inces ;  though  from  some,  where  the  character  of  the 
people  was  particularly  hardy,  more  than  from  others.53 
It  seems  probable  that  every  Peruvian  who  had  reached 
a  certain  age  had  been  called  to  bear  arms.  But  the 
rotation  of  military  service,  and  the  regular  drills, 
which  took  place  twice  or  thrice  in  a  month,  of  the 
inhabitants  of  every  village,  raised  the  soldiers  gener- 
ally above  the  rank  of  a  raw  militia.  The  Peruvian 
army,  at  first  inconsiderable,  came  with  the  increase 
of  population,  in  the  latter  days  of  the  empire,  to  be 
very  large,  so  that  their  monarchs  could  bring  into  the 

field,  as  contemporaries  assure  us,  a  force  amounting  to 

/ 

s»  "  Mas  se  hicieron  Sefiores  al  principle  por  mafia,  que  por  fuerza." 
Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim..  MS. 

a  Idem.,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS.— Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS. 
Peru.— VOL.  I.— D  7 


74  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

two  hundred  thousand  men.  They  showed  the  same 
skill  and  respect  for  order  in  their  military  organiza- 
tion as  in  other  things.  The  troops  were  divided  into 
bodies  corresponding  with  our  battalions  and  compa- 
nies, led  by  officers,  that  rose,  in  regular  gradation, 
from  the  lowest  subaltern  to  the  Inca  noble  who  was 
intrusted  with  the  general  command.54 

Their  arms  consisted  of  the  usual  weapons  em- 
ployed by  nations,  whether  civilized  or  uncivilized, 
before  the  invention  of  powder, — bows  and  arrows, 
lances,  darts,  a  short  kind  of  sword,  a  battle-axe  or 
partisan,  and  slings,  with  which  they  were  very  expert. 
Their  spears  and  arrows  were  tipped  with  copper,  or, 
more  commonly,  with  bone,  and  the  weapons  of  the 
Inca  lords  were  frequently  mounted  with  gold  or  silver. 
Their  heads  were  protected  by  casques  made  either  of 
wood  or  of  the  skins  of  wild  animals,  and  sometimes 
richly  decorated  with  metal  and  with  precious  stones, 
surmounted  by  the  brilliant  plumage  of  the  tropical 
birds.  These,  of  course,  were  the  ornaments  only  of 
the  higher  orders.  The  great  mass  of  the  soldiery 
were  dressed  in  the  peculiar  costume  of  their  prov- 
inces, and  their  heads  were  wreathed  with  a  sort  of 
turban  or  roll  of  different-colored  cloths,  that  produced 
a  gay  and  animating  effect.  Their  defensive  armor 
consisted  of  a  shield  or  buckler,  and  a  close  tunic  of 
quilted  cotton,  in  the  same  manner  as  with  the  Mexi- 
cans. Each  company  had  its  particular  banner,  and 
the  imperial  standard,  high  above  all,  displayed  the 
glittering  device  of  the  rainbow,— the  armorial  ensign 

*  Gomara.  Cronica,  cap.  195.— Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru.  MS. 


MILITARY   TACTICS   AND    POLICE.  75 

of  the  Incas,  intimating  their  claims  as  children  of  the 
skies.55 

By  means  of  the  thorough  system  of  communication 
established  in  the  country,  a  short  time  sufficed  to  draw 
the  levies  together  from  the  most  distant  quarters.  The 
army  was  put  under  the  direction  of  some  experienced 
chief,  of  the  blood  royal,  or,  more  frequently,  headed 
by  the  Inca  in  person.  The  march  was  rapidly  per- 
formed, and  with  little  fatigue  to  the  soldier ;  for,  all 
along  the  great  routes,  quarters  were  provided  for  him, 
at  regular  distances,  where  he  could  find  ample  accom- 
modations. The  country  is  still  covered  with  the  re- 
mains of  military  works,  constructed  of  porphyry  or 
granite,  which  tradition  assures  us  were  designed  to 
lodge  the  Inca  and  his  army.56 

At  regular  intervals,  also,  magazines  were  estab- 
lished, filled  with  grain,  weapons,  and  the  different 
munitions  of  war,  with  which  the  army  was  supplied 
on  its  march.  It  was  the  especial  care  of  the  govern- 
ment to  see  that  these  magazines,  which  were  furnished 
from  the  stores  of  the  Incas,  were  always  well  filled. 
When  the  Spaniards  invaded  the  country,  they  sup- 

55  Gomara,  Cronica,  ubi  supra. — Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap. 
20. — Velasco,  Hist,  de  Quito,  torn.  i.  pp.  176-179. — This  last  writer 
gives  a  minute  catalogue  of  the  ancient  Peruvian  arms,  comprehending 
nearly  every  thing  familiar  to  the  European  soldier,  except  fire-arms. 
It  was  judicious  in  him  to  omit  these. 

56  /arate,  Conq.  del   Peru,  lib.  i.  cap.  n. — Sarmiento,  Relacion, 
MS.,  cap.  60. — Condamine  speaks  of  the  great  number  of  these  forti- 
fied places,  scattered  over  the  country  between  Quito  and  Lima,  which 
he  saw  in  his  visit  to  South  America  in  1737;  some  of  which  he  has 
described  with  great  minuteness.      Memoire  sur  quelques  anciens 
Monumens  du  Pe>ou,  du  Terns  des  Incas,  ap.  Histoire  de  1'Acade'mie 
Royal  des  Sciences  et  de  Belles- Lettres  (Berlin,  1748),  torn.  ii.  p.  438. 


7  6  CIVILIZATION   OF    THE    IXC  AS. 

ported  their  own  armies  for  a  long  time  on  the  pro- 
visions found  in  them.57  The  Peruvian  soldier  was 
forbidden  to  commit  any  trespass  on  the  property  of 
the  inhabitants  whose  territory  lay  in  the  line  of 
march.  Any  violation  of  this  order  was  punished 
with  death.58  The  soldier  was  clothed  and  fed  by  the 
industry  of  the  people,  and  the  Incas  rightly  resolved 
that  he  should  not  repay  this  by  violence.  Far  from 
being  a  tax  on  the  labors  of  the  husbandman,  or  even 
a  burden  on  his  hospitality,  the  imperial  armies  trav- 
ersed the  country,  from  one  extremity  to  the  other, 
with  as  little  inconvenience  to  the  inhabitants  as  would 
be  created  by  a  procession  of  peaceful  burghers  or  a 
muster  of  holiday  soldiers  for  a  review. 

From  the  moment  war  was  proclaimed,  the  Peruvian 
monarch  used  all  possible  expedition  in  assembling  his 
forces,  that  he  might  anticipate  the  movements  of  his 
enemies  and  prevent  a  combination  with  their  allies. 
It  was,  however,  from  the  neglect  of  such  a  principle 
of  combination  that  the  several  nations  of  the  country, 
who  might  have  prevailed  by  confederated  strength, 
fell  one  after  another  under  the  imperial  yoke.  Yet, 


57 "  Eansi  cuando,"  says  Ondegardo,  speaking  from  his  own  personal 
knowledge,  "  el  Senor  Presidente  Gasca  passo  con  la  gente  de  castigo 
de  Gonzalo  Pizarro  por  el  valle  de  Jauja,  estuvo  alii  siete  semanas  d 
lo  que  me  acuerdo,  se  hallaron  en  deposito  maiz  de  cuatro  y  de  tres 
y  de  dos  anos  mas  de  15  3.  hanegas  junto  al  caniino,  6  alii  comi6  la 
gente,  y  se  entendi6  que  si  fuera  menester  muchas  mas  no  faltaran 
en  el  valle  en  aquellos  depositos,  conforme  &  la  orden  antigua,  porque 
1  mi  cargo  estubo  el  repartirlas  y  hacer  la  cuenta  para  pagarlas." 
Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 

58  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  v  Conq.,  MS.— Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica, 
cap.  44. — Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  14. 


MILITARY   TACTICS    AXD    POLICY.  77 

once  in  the  field,  the  Inca  did  not  usually  show  any 
disposition  to  push  his  advantages  to  the  utmost  and 
urge  his  foe  to  extremity.  In  every  stage  of  the  war, 
he  was  open  to  propositions  for  peace ;  and,  although 
he  sought  to  reduce  his  enemies  by  carrying  off  their 
harvests  and  distressing  them  by  famine,  he  allowed 
his  troops  to  commit  no  unnecessary  outrage  on  person 
or  property.  "We  must  spare  our  enemies,"  one  of 
the  Peruvian  princes  is  quoted  as 'saying,  "or  it  will 
be  our  loss,  since  they  and  all  that  belongs  to  them 
must  soon  be  ours."59  It  was  a  wise  maxim,  and,  like 
most  other  wise  maxims,  founded  equally  on  benevo- 
lence and  prudence.  The  Incas  adopted  the  policy 
claimed  for  the  Romans  by  their  countryman,  who 
tells  us  that  they  gained  more  by  clemency  to  the  van- 
quished than  by  their  victories.** 

In  the  same  considerate  spirit,  they  were  most  care- 
ful to  provide  for  the  security  and  comfort  of  their 
own  troops ;  and  when  a  war  was  long  protracted,  or 
the  climate  proved  unhealthy,  they  took  care  to  relieve 
their  men  by  frequent  reinforcements,  allowing  the 
earlier  recruits  to  return  to  their  homes.61  But  while 
thus  economical  of  life,  both  in  their  own  followers 
and  in  the  enemy,  they  did  not  shrink  from  sterner 
measures  when  provoked  by  the  ferocious  or  obstinate 

,59  ••  Mandabase  que  en  los  mantenimientos  y  casas  de  los  enemigos 
se  hiciese  poco  dano,  diciendoles  el  Seftor,  presto  seran  estos  nuestros 
como  los  que  ya  lo  son  ;  como  esto  tenian  conocido,  procuraban  que 
la  guerra  fuese  la  mas  liviana  que  ser  pudiese."  Sarmiento,  Relacion, 
MS.,  cap.  14. 

60  "  Plus  pene  parcendo  victis,  quam  vincendo  imperium  auxisse." 
Livy,  lib.  30,  cap.  42.  . 

*'  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  6,  cap.  18. 
7* 


7  8  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    IXC  AS. 

character  of  the  resistance  ;  and  the  Peruvian  annals 
contain  more  than  one  of  those  sanguinary  pages 
which  cannot  be  pondered  at  the  present  day  without 
a  shudder.  It  should  be  added  that  the  beneficent 
policy  which  I  have  been  delineating  as  characteristic 
of  the  Incas  did  not  belong  to  all,  and  that  there  was 
more  than  one  of  the  royal  line  who  displayed  a  full 
measure  of  the  bold  and  unscrupulous  spirit  of  the 
vulgar  conqueror. 

The  first  step  of  the  government  after  the  reduction 
of  a  country  was  to  introduce  there  the  worship  of  the 
Sun.  Temples  were  erected,  and  placed  under  the 
care  of  a  numerous  priesthood,  who  expounded  to  the 
conquered  people  the  mysteries  of  their  new  faith  and 
dazzled  them  by  the  display  of  its  rich  and  stately 
ceremonial.62  Yet  the  religion  of  the  conquered  was 
not  treated  with  dishonor.  The  Sun  was  to  be  wor- 
shipped above  all ;  but  the  images  of  their  gods  were 
removed  to  Cuzco  and  established  in  one  of  the  tem- 
ples, to  hold  their  rank  among  the  inferior  deities 
of  the  Peruvian  Pantheon.  Here  they  remained  as 
hostages,  in  some  sort,  for  the  conquered  nation,  which 
would  be  the  less  inclined  to  forsake  its  allegiance  when 
by  doing  so  it  must  leave  its  own  gods  in  the  hands  of 
its  enemies.63 

The  Incas  provided  for  the  settlement  of  their  new 
conquests,  by  ordering  a  census  to  be  taken  of  the 
population  and  a  careful  survey  to  be  made  of  the 
country,  ascertaining  its  products  and  the  character 

fa  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  14. 

«3  Acosta,  lib.  5.  cap.  12.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real..  Parte  i.  lib.  5. 
cap.  12. 


MILITARY   TACTICS   AND    POLICY.       ,      79 

and  capacity  of  its  soil.64  A  division  of  the  territory 
was  then  made  on  the  same  principle  with  that  adopted 
throughout  their  own  kingdom,  and  their  respective 
portions  were  assigned  to  the  Sun,  the  sovereign,  and 
the  people.  The  amount  of  the  last  was  regulated  by 
the  amount  of  the  population,  but  the  share  of  each 
individual  was  uniformly  the  same.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  any  people  should  patiently  have  acqui- 
esced in  an  arrangement  which  involved  such  a  total 
surrender  of  property.  But  it  was  a  conquered  nation 
that  did  so,  held  in  awe,  on  the  least  suspicion  of 
meditated  resistance,  by  armed  garrisons,  who  were 
established  at  various  commanding  points  throughout 
the  country.65  It  is  probable,  too,  that  the  Incas  made 
no  greater  changes  than  was  essential  to  the  new 
arrangement,  and  that  they  assigned  estates,  as  far  as 
possible,  to  their  former  proprietors.  The  curacas,  in 
particular,  were  confirmed  in  their  ancient  authority ; 
or,  when  it  was  found  expedient  to  depose  the  existing 
curaca,  his  rightful  heir  was  allowed  to  succeed  him.66 
Every  respect  was  shown  to  the  ancient  usages  and 
laws  of  the  land,  as  far  as  was  compatible  with  the 
fundamental  institutions  of  the  Incas.  It  must  also  be 
remembered  that  the  conquered  tribes  were,  many  of 
them,  too  little  advanced  in  civilization  to  possess  that 
attachment  to  the  soil  which  belongs  to  a  cultivated 
nation.*7  But,  to  whatever  it  be  referred,  it  seems  prob- 

^Garcilasso.  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  5,  cap.  13,  14. — Sarmiento, 
Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  15. 

's  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  19. 

86  Fernandez,  Hist,  del  Peru,  Parte  2,  lib.  3,  cap.  n. 

*i  Sarmiento  has  given  a  very  full  and  interesting  account  of  the 
singularly  humane  policy  observed  by  the  Incas  in  their  conquests. 


go  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

able  that  the  extraordinary  institutions  of  the  Incas 
were  established  with  little  opposition  in  the  conquered 
territories.68 

Yet  the  Peruvian  sovereigns  did  not  trust  altogether 
to  this  show  of  obedience  in  their  new  vassals ;  and, 
to  secure  it  more  effectually,  they  adopted  some  expe- 
dients too  remarkable  to  be  passed  over  in  silence.  Im- 
mediately after  a  recent  conquest,  the  curacas  and  their 
families  Avere  removed  for  a  time  to  Cuzco.  Here  they 
learned  the  language  of  the  capital,  became  familiar 
with  the  manners  and  usages  of  the  court,  as  well  as 
with  the  general  policy  of  the  government,  and  expe- 
rienced such  marks  of  favor  from  the  sovereign  as  would 
be  most  grateful  to  their  feelings  and  might  attach 
them  most  warmly  to  his  person.  Under  the  influ- 
ence of  these  sentiments,  they  were  again  sent  to  rule 
over  their  vassals,  but  still  leaving  their  eldest  sons 
in  the  capital,  to  remain  there  as  a  guarantee  for 

forming  a  striking  contrast  with  the  usual  course  of  those  scourges  of 
mankind,  whom  mankind  is  wise  enough  to  requite  with  higher  admi- 
ration, even,  than  it  bestows  on  its  benefactors.  As  Sarmiento,  who 
was  President  of  the  Royal  Council  of  the  Indies,  and  came  into  the 
country  soon  after  the  Conquest,  is  a  high  authority,  and  as  his  work,* 
lodged  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the  Escorial,  is  almost  unknown,  I  have 
transferred  the  whole  chapter  to  Appendix  No.  3. 

68  According  to  Velasco,  even  the  powerful  state  of  Quito,  suffi- 
ciently advanced  in  civilization  to  have  the  law  of  property  well  recog- 
nized by  its  people,  admitted  the  institutions  of  the  Incas  "  not  only 
without  repugnance,  but  with  joy."  (Hist,  de  Quito,  torn.  ii.  p.  183.) 
But  Velasco,  a  modern  authority,  believed  easily,— or  reckoned  on  his 
readers'  doing  so. 


*  [Sarmiento  never  visited  America,  and,  as  already  mentioned,  was 
not  the  author  of  the  work  here  referred  to.     See  infra,  p.  178.— ED.] 


MILITARY   TACTICS   AND    POLICY.  Si 

their  own  fidelity,  as  well  as  to  grace  the  court  of  the 
Inca.69 

Another  expedient  was  of  a  bolder  and  more  original 
character.  This  was  nothing  less  than  to  revolutioni/e 
the  language  of  the  country.  South  America,  like 
North  America,  had  a  great  variety  of  dialects,  or 
rather  languages,  having  little  affinity  with  one  an- 
other. This  circumstance  occasioned  great  embarrass- 
ment to  the  government  in  the  administration  of  the 
different  provinces  with  whose  idioms  they  were  un- 
acquainted. It  was  determined,  therefore,  to  substitute 
one  universal  language,  the  Quichua, — the  language  of 
the  court,  the  capital,  and  the  surrounding  country, — 
the  richest  and  most  comprehensive  of  the  South 
American  dialects.  Teachers  were  provided  in  the 
towns  and  villages  throughout  the  land,  who  were  to 
give  instruction  to  all,  even  the  humblest  classes ;  and 
it  was  intimated  at  the  same  time  that  no  one  should 
be  raised  to  any  office  of  dignity  or  profit  who  was  un- 
acquainted with  this  tongue.  The  curacas  and  other 
chiefs  who  attended  at  the  capital  became  familiar  with 
this  dialect  in  their  intercourse  with  the  court,  and,  on 
their  return  home,  set  the  example  of  conversing  in  it 
among  themselves.  This  example  was  imitated  by 
their  followers,  and  the  Quichua  gradually  became  the 
language  of  elegance  and  fashion,  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  Norman  French  was  affected  by  all  those  who 
aspired  to  any  consideration  in  England  after  the  Con- 
quest. By  this  means,  while  each  province  retained 
its  peculiar  tongue,  a  beautiful  medium  of  communica- 
tion was  introduced,  which  enabled  the  inhabitants  of 
•»Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  5,  cap.  12;  lib.  7,  cap.  a. 
D* 


82  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

one  part  of  the  country  to  hold  intercourse  with  every 
other,  and  the  Inca  and  his  deputies  to  communicate 
with  all.  This  was  the  state  of  things  on  the  arrival 
of  the  Spaniards.  It  must  be  admitted  that  history 
furnishes  few  examples  of  more  absolute  authority  than 
such  a  revolution  in  the  language  of  an  empire  at  the 
bidding  of  a  master.70 

Yet  little  less  remarkable  was  another  device  of  the 
Incas  for  securing  the  loyalty  of  their  subjects.  When 
any  portion  of  the  recent  conquests  showed  a  pertina- 
cious spirit  of  disaffection,  it  was  not  uncommon  to 
cause  a  part  of  the  population,  amounting,  it  might  be, 
to  ten  thousand  inhabitants  or  more,  to  remove  to  a 
distant  quarter  of  the  kingdom,  occupied  by  ancient 
vassals  of  undoubted  fidelity  to  the  crown.  A  like 
number  of  these  last  was  transplanted  to  the  territory 
left  vacant  by  the  emigrants.  By  this  exchange  the 
population  was  composed  of  two  distinct  races,  who 
regarded  each  other  with  an  eye  of  jealousy,  that  served 
as  an  effectual  check  on  any  mutinous  proceeding.  In 
time,  the  influence  of  the  well-affected  prevailed,  sup- 
ported as  they  were  by  royal  authority  and  by  the  silent 
working  of  the  national  institutions,  to  which  the 
strange  races  became  gradually  accustomed.  A  spirit 

7°  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  6,  cap.  35;  lib.  7,  cap.  i,  2. 
— Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. — Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  55. — 
"  Aun  la  Criatura  no  hubiese  dejado  el  Pecho  de  su  Madre  quando 
le  comenzasen  d  mostrar  la  Lengua  que  havia  de  saber  ;  y  aunque  al 
principio  fue  dificultoso,  e  muchos  se  pusieron  en  no  querer  deprender 
mas  lenguas  de  las  suyas  propias,  los  Reyes  pudieron  tanto  que  salie- 
ron  con  su  intencion  y  ellos  tubieron  por  bien  de  cumplirsu  mandado  y 
tan  de  veras  se  entendi6  en  ello  que  en  tiempo  de  pocos  afios  se  savia 
r  usaba una  lengua  en  mas  de  mil  y  doscientas  leguas."  Ibid.,  cap.  21. 


MILITARY   TACTICS    AXD    POLICY.  83 

of  loyalty  sprang  up  by  degrees  in  their  bosoms,  and 
before  a  generation  had  passed  away  the  different 
tribes  mingled  in  harmony  together  as  members  of  the 
same  community."  Yet  the  different  races  continued 
to  be  distinguished  by  difference  of  dress ;  since,  by 
the  law  of  the  land,  every  citizen  was  required  to  wear 
the  costume  of  his  native  province.7*  Neither  could 
the  colonist  who  had  been  thus  unceremoniously  trans- 
planted return  to  his  native  district.  For,  by  another 
law,  it  was  forbidden  to  any  one  to  change  his  resi- 
dence without  license.73  He  was  settled  for  life.  The 
Peruvian  government  prescribed  to  every  man  his  local 
habitation,  his  sphere  of  action,  nay,  the  very  nature 
and  quality  of  that  action.  He  ceased  to  be  a  free 
agent ;  it  might  be  almost  said  that  it  relieved  him  of 
personal  responsibility. 

In  following  out  this  singular  arrangement,  the  Incas 
showed  as  much  regard  for  the  comfort  and  conve- 
nience of  the  colonist  as  was  compatible  with  the  exe- 
cution of  their  design.  They  were  careful  that  the 
mifimaes,  as  these  emigrants  were  styled,  should  be 
removed  to  climates  most  congenial  with  their  own. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  cold  countries  were  not  trans- 
planted to  the  warm,  nor  the  inhabitants  of  the  warm 
countries  to  the  cold.74  Even  their  habitual  occupa- 

?'  Ondegardo.  Rel.  Prim.,  MS.— Fernandez,  Hist,  del  Peru,  Parte 
2,  lib.  3,  cap.  ii. 

7»  "  This  regulation,"  says  Father  Acosta,  "  the  Incas  held  to  be  of 
great  importance  to  the  order  and  right  government  of  the  realm." 
Lib.  6,  cap.  16. 

73  Conq.  i  Pob.  del  Piru.  MS. 

74  •'  Trasmutaban  de  las  tales  Provincias  la  cantidad  de  gente  de 
que  de  ella  pareciaconvenir  que  saliese,  ;i  los  cuales  mandaban  pasar 
a  poblar  otra  tierra  del  temple  y  manera  de  donde  salian,  si  fria  fria, 


84  CIVILIZATION     OF    THE   INCAS. 

tions  were  consulted,  and  the  fisherman  was  settled  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  ocean  or  the  great  lakes, 
while  such  lands  were  assigned  to  the  husbandman  as 
were  best  adapted  to  the  culture  with  which  he  was 
most  familiar.75  And,  as  migration  by  many,  perhaps 
by  most,  would  be  regarded  as  a  calamity,  the  govern- 
ment was  careful  to  show  particular  marks  of  favor  to 
the  mitimaes,  and,  by  various  privileges  and  immuni- 
ties, to  ameliorate  their  condition,  and  thus  to  reconcile 
them,  if  possible,  to  their  lot.76 

The  Peruvian  institutions,  though  they  may  have 
been  modified  and  matured  under  successive  sovereigns, 
all  bear  the  stamp  of  the  same  original,-— were  all  cast 
in  the  same  mould.  The  empire,  strengthening  and 
enlarging  at  every  successive  epoch  of  its  history,  was 
in  its  latter  days  but  the  development,  on  a  great  scale, 
of  what  it  was  in  miniature  at  its  commencement,  as 
the  infant  germ  is  said  to  contain  within  itself  all  the 
ramifications  of  the  future  monarch  of  the  forest. 
Each  succeeding  Inca  seemed  desirous  only  to  tread  in 
the  path  and  carry  out  the  plans  of  his  predecessor. 
Great  enterprises,  commenced  under  one,  were  con- 
tinued by  another,  and  completed  by  a  third.  Thus, 
while  all  acted  on  a  regular  plan,  without  any  of  the 
eccentric  or  retrograde  movements  which  betray  the 
agency  of  different  individuals,  the  state  seemed  to  be 

si  caliente  caliente,  en  donde  les  daban  tierras,  y  campos.  y  casas, 
tanto,  y  mas  como  dejaron."  Sarmiento,  Relacion.  MS.,  cap.  19. 

«  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. 

76  The  descendants  of  these  mitimaes  are  still  to  be  found  in  Quito, 
or  were  so  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  according  to  Velasco.  dis- 
tinguished by  this  name  from  the  rest  of  the  population.  Hist,  de 
Quito,  torn.  i.  p.  175. 


MILITARY   TACTICS   AND    POLICY.  85 

under  the  direction  of  a  single  hand,  and  steadily  pur- 
sued, as  if  through  one  long  reign,  its  great  career  of 
civilization  and  of  conquest. 

The  ultimate  aim  of  its  institutions  was  domestic 
quiet.  But  it  seemed  as  if  this  were  to  be  obtained 
only  by  foreign  war.  Tranquillity  in  the  heart  of  the 
monarchy,  and  war  on  its  borders,  was  the  condition 
of  Peru.  By  this  war  it  gave  occupation  to  a  part  of 
its  people,  and,  by  the  reduction  and  civilization  of  its 
barbarous  neighbors,  gave  security  to  all.  Every  Inca 
sovereign,  however  mild  and  benevolent  in  his  domestic 
rule,  was  a  warrior,  and  led  his  armies  in  person.  Each 
successive  reign  extended  still  wider  the  boundaries  of 
the  empire.  Year  after  year  saw  the  victorious  monarch 
return  laden  with  spoils  and  followed  by  a  throng  of 
tributary  chieftains  to  his  capital.  His  reception  there 
was  a  Roman  triumph.  The  whole  of  its  numerous 
population  poured  out  to  welcome  him,  dressed  in  the 
gay  and  picturesque  costumes  of  the  different  provinces, 
with  banners  waving  above  their  heads,  and  strewing 
branches  and  flowers  along  the  path  of  the  conqueror. 
The  Inca,  borne  aloft  in  his  golden  chair  on  the 
shoulders  of  his  nobles,  moved  in  solemn  procession, 
under  the  triumphal  arches  that  were  thrown  across  the 
way,  to  the  great  temple  of  the  Sun.  There,  without 
attendants, — for  all  but  the  monarch  were  excluded 
from  the  hallowed  precincts, — the  victorious  prince, 
stripped  of  his  royal  insignia,  barefooted,  and  with  all 
humility,  approached  the  awful  shrine  and  offered  up 
sacrifice  and  thanksgiving  to  the  glorious  Deity  who 
presided  over  the  fortunes  of  the  Incas.  This  cere- 
mony concluded,  the  whole  population  gave  itself  up 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  8 


86  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

to  festivity;  music,  revelry,  and  dancing  were  heard 
in  every  quarter  of  the  capital,  and  illuminations  and 
bonfires  commemorated  the  victorious  campaign  of  the 
Inca  and  the  accession  of  a  new  territory  to  his  empire." 

In  this  celebration  we  see  much  of  the  character  of 
a  religious  festival.  Indeed,  the  character  of  religion 
was  impressed  on  all  the  Peruvian  wars.  The  life  of  an 
Inca  was  one  long  crusade  against  the  infidel,  to  spread 
wide  the  worship  of  the  Sun,  to  reclaim  the  benighted 
nations  from  their  brutish  superstitions  and  impart  to 
them  the  blessings  of  a  well-regulated  government. 
This,  in  the  favorite  phrase  of  our  day,  was  the  "mis- 
sion" of  the  Inca.  It  was  also  the  mission  of  the 
Christian  conqueror  who  invaded  the  empire  of  this 
same  Indian  potentate.  Which  of  the  two  executed 
his  mission  most  faithfully,  history  must  decide. 

Yet  the  Peruvian  monarchs  did  not  show  a  childish 
impatience  in  the  acquisition  of  empire.  They  paused 
after  a  campaign,  and  allowed  time  for  the  settlement 
of  one  conquest  before  they  undertook  another,  and 
in  this  interval  occupied  themselves  with  the  quiet  ad- 
ministration of  their  kingdom,  and  with  the  long  pro- 
gresses which  brought  them  into  nearer  intercourse 
with  their  people.  During  this  interval,  also,  their 
new  vassals  had  begun  to  accommodate  themselves  to 
the  strange  institutions  of  their  masters.  They  learned 
to  appreciate  the  value  of  a  government  which  raised 
them  above  the  physical  evils  of  a  state  of  barbarism, 
secured  them  protection  of  person  and  a  full  participa- 
tion in  all  the  privileges  enjoyed  by  their  conquerors  ; 

77Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  55.—  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real., 
Parte  i,  lib.  3,  cap.  n,  17 ;  lib.  6,  cap.  16. 


MILlTAft  Y   TACTICS   AND    POLICY.  87 

and,  as  they  became  more  familiar  with  the  peculiar 
institutions  of  the  country,  habit,  that  second  nature, 
attached  them  the  more  strongly  to  these  institutions 
from  their  very  peculiarity.  Thus,  by  degrees,  and 
without  violence,  arose  the  great  fabric  of  the  Peruvian 
empire,  composed  of  numerous  independent  and  even 
hostile  tribes,  yet,  under  the  influence  of  a  common 
religion,  common  language,  and  common  government, 
knit  together  as  one  nation,  animated  by  a  spirit  of 
love  for  its  institutions  and  devoted  loyalty  to  its  sov- 
ereign. What  a  contrast  to  the  condition  of  the  Aztec 
monarchy,  on  the  neighboring  continent,  which,  com- 
posed of  the  like  heterogeneous  materials,  without  any 
internal  principle  of  cohesion,  was  only  held  together 
by  the  stern  pressure,  from  without,  of  physical  force ! 
Why  the  Peruvian  monarchy  should  have  fared  no 
better  than  its  rival  in  its  conflict  with  European  civ- 
ilization will  appear  in  the  following  pages. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PERUVIAN  RELIGION. — DEITIES. — GORGEOUS  TEMPLES. — 
FESTIVALS. — VIRGINS   OF   THE   SUN. — MARRIAGE. 

IT  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  many,  if  not  most,  of 
the  rude  tribes  inhabiting  the  vast  American  continent, 
however  disfigured  their  creeds  may  have  been  in  other 
respects  by  a  childish  superstition,  had  attained  to  the 
sublime  conception  of  one  Great  Spirit,  the  Creator 
of  the  Universe,  who,  immaterial  in  his  own  nature, 
was  not  to  be  dishonored  by  an  attempt  at  visible  rep- 
resentation, and  who,  pervading  all  space,  was  not  to 
be  circumscribed  within  the  walls  of  a  temple.*  Yet 

*  [This  statement  represents  what  is  still,  probably,  the  common 
belief—  based  on  the  representations  of  the  early  missionaries  and  of 
many  subsequent  explorers — in  regard  to  the  religious  ideas  of  the 
aboriginal  races.  The  subject  has,  however,  undergone  of  late  a  more 
critical  investigation,  in  connection  with  the  general  inquiry  as  to  the 
ment  of  religious  conceptions,  and  of  monotheism,  considered 
as  an  original  intuition  or  as  the  latest  outcome  of  more  primi- 
iefs.  Dr.  Brinton,  who  considers  that  the  intuition  of  an  un- 
wer— "  the  sum  of  those  intelligent  activities  which  the  indi- 
,  reasoning  from  the  analogy  of  his  own  actions,  imagines  to  be 
d  and  to  bring  about  natural  phenomena" — is  common  to  the 
es,  traces  this  conception  in  the  American  mythologies,  especially 
in  which  the  air,  the  breath  of  life,  appears  as  the  symbol  of  an 
imating  or  creative  Spirit.  Yet  he  adds.  "  Let  none  of  these  ex- 
pressions,  however,  be  construed  to  prove  the  distinct  recognition  of 
One  Supreme  Being.  Of  monotheism,  either  as  displayed  in  the  one 
personal  definite  God  of  the  Semitic  races,  or  in  the  dim  pantheistic 
(88) 


PERUVIAN   RELIGION.  89 

these  elevated  ideas,  so  far  beyond  the  ordinary  range 
of  the  untutored  intellect,  do  not  seem  to  have  led  to 
the  practical  consequences  that  might  have  been  ex- 
pected ;  and  few  of  the  American  nations  have  shown 
much  solicitude  for  the  maintenance  of  a  religious 
worship,  or  found  in  their  faith  a  powerful  spring  of 
action. 

But  with  progress  in  civilization  ideas  more  akin  to 
those  of  civilized  communities  were  gradually  unfolded  ; 
a  liberal  provision  was  made,  and  a  separate  order  in- 
stituted, for  the  services  of  religion,  which  were  con- 
ducted with  a  minute  and  magnificent  ceremonial,  that 
challenged  comparison,  in  some  respects,  with  that  of 
the  most  polished  nations  of  Christendom.  This  was 
the  case  with  the  nations  inhabiting  the  table-land  of 
North  America,  and  with  the  natives  of  Bogota,  Quito, 
Peru,  and  the  other  elevated  regions  on  the  great 
Southern  continent.  It  was,  above  all,  the  case  with 
the  Peruvians,  who  claimed  a  divine  original  for  the 
founders  of  their  empire,  whose  laws  all  rested  on  a 

sense  of  the  Brahmins,  there  was  not  a  single  instance  on  the  Ameri- 
can continent.  .  .  .  The  phrases  Good  Spirit,  Great  Spirit,  and  simi- 
lar ones,  have  occasioned  endless  discrepancies  in  the  minds  of  trav- 
ellers. In  most  instances  they  are  entirely  of  modern  origin,  coined 
at  the  suggestion  of  missionaries,  applied  to  the  white  man's  God." 
i  Myths  of  the  New  World,  p.  52.)  Mr.  Tylor  finds  among  various 
races  of  North  and  South  America,  of  Africa  and  of  Polynesia,  the 
"  acknowledgment  of  a  Supreme  Creator,"  yet  always  in  connection 
with  a  system  of  polytheism,  of  which  this  belief  is  the  culmination. 
(Primitive  Culture,  ad  ed.,  vol.  ii.  p.  332.)  It  may  be  doubted,  how- 
ever, whether  it  is  possible  to  arrive  at  any  certainty  in  regard  to  con- 
ceptions so  vague  in  themselves  and  so  liable  to  be  moulded  into 
definite  shapes  by  the  mediums  through  which  they  are  communi- 
cated.—ED.] 

8* 


9o  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

divine  sanction,  and  whose  domestic  institutions  and 
foreign  wars  were  alike  directed  to  preserve  and  propa- 
gate their  faith.  Religion  was  the  basis  of  their  polity, 
the  very  condition,  as  it  were,  of  their  social  existence. 
The  government  of  the  Incas,  in  its  essential  principles, 
was  a  theocracy. 

Yet,  though  religion  entered  so  largely  into  the  fabric 
and  conduct  of  the  political  institutions  of  the  people, 
their  mythology,  that  is,  the  traditionary  legends  by 
which  they  affected  to  unfold  the  mysteries  of  the  uni- 
verse, was  exceedingly  mean  and  puerile.  Scarce  one 
of  their  traditions— except  the  beautiful  one  respecting 
the  founders  of  their  royal  dynasty — is  worthy  of  note, 
or  throws  much  light  on  their  own  antiquities  or  the 
primitive  history  of  man.  Among  the  traditions  of 
importance  is  one  of  the  deluge,  which  they  held  in 
common  with  so  many  of  the  nations  in  all  parts  of  the 
globe,  and  which  they  related  with  some  particulars 
that  bear  resemblance  to  a  Mexican  legend.1 

1  They  related  that,  after  the  deluge,  seven  persons  issued  from  a 
cave  where  they  had  saved  themselves,  and  by  them  the  earth  was 
repeopled.  One  of  the  traditions  of  the  Mexicans  deduced  their  de- 
scent, and  that  of  the  kindred  tribes,  in  like  manner,  from  seven  per- 
sons who  came  from  as  many  caves  in  Aztlan.*  (Conf.  Acosta,  lib.  6, 
cap.  19;  lib.  7,  cap.  2. — Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS.)  The  story  of 
the  deluge  is  told  by  different  writers  with  many  variations,  in  some 
of  which  it  is  not  difficult  to  detect  the  plastic  hand  of  the  Christian 
convert. 


*  [A  similar  tradition  is  found  in  some  Sanscrit  legends.  "  This 
coincidence,"  remarks  Dr.  Brinton.  "arises  from  the  mystic  powers 
attached  to  the  number  seven,  derived  from  its  frequent  occurrence  in 
astrology."  (Myths  of  the  New  World,  p.  203^  Yet  the  evidence  he 
adduces  will  hardly  apply  to  the  American  myths.— ED.] 


/7-.AV/y,/.V    RELIGION.  gj 

• 

Their  ideas  in  respect  to  a  future  state  of  being  de- 
serve more  attention.  They  admitted  the  existence  of 
the  soul  hereafter,  and  connected  with  this  a  belief  in 
the  resurrection  of  the  body.  They  assigned  two  dis-( 
tinct  places  for  the  residence  of  the  good  and  of  the 
wicked,  the  latter  of  which  they  fixed  in  the  centre  of 
the  earth.  The  good,  they  supposed,  were  to  pass  a 
luxurious  life  of  tranquillity  and  ease,  which  compre- 
hended their  highest  notions  of  happiness.  The 
wicked  were  to  expiate  their  crimes  by  ages  of  weari- 
some labor.  They  associated  with  these  ideas  a  belief 
in  an  evil  principle  or  spirit,  bearing  the  name  of 
£upay,  whom  they  did  not  attempt  to  propitiate  by 
sacrifices,  and  who  seems  to  have  been  only  a  shadowy 
personification  of  sin,*  that  exercised  little  influence 
over  their  conduct.1 

*  Ondegardo,  Rel.Seg..  MS.— Gomara,  Hist,  de  las  Ind..  cap.  123. 
— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  2,  cap.  2,  7. — One  might  sup- 
pose that  the  educated  Peruvians — if  I  may  so  speak — imagined  the 
common  people  had  no  souls,  so  little  is  said  of  their  opinions  as  to 
the  condition  of  these  latter  in  a  future  life,  while  they  are  diffuse  on 
the  prospects  of  the  higher  orders,  which  they  fondly  believed  were  to 
keep  pace  with  their  condition  here. 


*  [Dr.  Brinton,  citing  with  approval  the  remark  of  Jacob  Grimm, 
that  "  the  idea  of  the  Devil  is  foreign  to  all  primitive  religions,"  denies 
that  such  a  conception  had  any  existence  in  the  American  mythologies, 
and  contends  that  "  the  (^ upay  of  the  Peruvians  never  was,  as  Prescott 
would  have  us  believe,  the  shadowy  embodiment  of  evil,  but  simply 
and  solely  their  god  of  the  dead,  the  Pluto  of  their  pantheon,  corre- 
sponding to  the  Mictla  of  the  Mexicans."  It  is  certain  that  many 
myths  of  the  American  Indians,  in  which  a  good  and  an  evil  power 
are  opposed  to  each  other,  owed  this  idea  to  the  later  introduction  of 
the  Christian  notions  of  Satan,  or  to  the  misconception  of  narrators 


92  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

It  was  this  belief  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body 
which  led  them  to  preserve  the  body  with  so  much 
solicitude, — by  a  simple  process,  however,  that,  unlike 
the  elaborate  embalming  of  the  Egyptians,  consisted 
in  exposing  it  to  the  action  of  the  cold,  exceedingly 
dry,  and  highly  rarefied  atmosphere  of  the  mountains.3 
As  they  believed  that  the  occupations  in  the  future 
world  would  have  great  resemblance  to  those  of  the 
present,  they  buried  with  the  deceased  noble  some  of 
his  apparel,  his  utensils,  and,  frequently,  his  treasures, 
and  completed  the  gloomy  ceremony  by  sacrificing  his 
wives  and  favorite  domestics,  to  bear  him  company 
and  do  him  service  in  the  happy  regions  beyond  the 
clouds.4 .  Vast  mounds  of  an  irregular  or,  more  fre- 

3  Such,  indeed,  seems  to  be  the  opinion  of  Garcilasso,  though  some 
writers  speak  of  resinous  and  other  applications  for  embalming  the 
body.    The  appearance  of  the  royal  mummies  found  at  Cuzco,  as 
reported  both  by  Ondegardo  and  Garcilasso,  makes  it  probable  that 
no  foreign  substance  was  employed  for  their  preservation. 

4  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. — The  Licentiate  says  that  this  usage 


influenced  by  the  same  belief.  Yet  Mr.  Tylor,  while  admitting  the 
skill  with  which  many  of  these  legends  have  been  analyzed  by  Dr. 
Brinton,  and  the  general  force  of  his  criticism,  maintains  that  "  rudi- 
mentary forms  of  Dualism,  the  antagonism  of  a  Good  and  Evil  Deity, 
are  well  known  among  the  lower  races  of  mankind,"  and.  after  review- 
ing the  evidences  of  this  conception  in  various  stages  of  development, 
makes  the  pregnant  remark  that  "  the  conception  of  the  light-god  as 
the  good  deity,  in  contrast  to  a  rival  god  of  evil,  is  one  plainly  sug- 
gested by  nature."  (Primitive  Culture,  i.  287-297.)  It  is  therefore 
among  the  sun-worshippers  that  we  might  especially  expect  to  find  the 
instinctive  conception  of  a  power  of  darkness,  as  the  representative 
not  merely  of  death  but  of  the  evil  principle.  This  dualism  is,  accord- 
ingly, the  distinguishing  feature  of  the  Zoroastrian  religion,  and  its 
existence  in  that  of  Peru  cannot  well  be  questioned  on  the  sole  ground 
of  inherent  improbability. — ED.] 


I 


DEITIES. 


93 


quently,  oblong  shape,  penetrated  by  galleries  running 
at  right  angles  to  each  other,  were  raised  over  the 
dead,  whose  dried  bodies  or  mummies  have  been  found 
in  considerable  numbers,  sometimes  erect,  but  more 
often  in  the  sitting  posture  common  to  the  Indian 
tribes  of  both  continents.  Treasures  of  great  value 
have  also  been  occasionally  drawn  from  these  monu- 
mental deposits,  and  have  stimulated  speculators  to 
repeated  excavations  with  the  hope  of  similar  good 
fortune.  It  was  a  lottery  like  that  of  searching  after 
mines,  but  where  the  chances  have  proved  still  more 
against  the  adventurers.5 

The  Peruvians,  like  so  many  other  of  the  Indian 
races,  acknowledged  a  Supreme  Being,  the  Creator 
and  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  whom  they  adored  under 
the  different  names  of  Pachacamac  and  Viracocha.6 

continued  even  after  the  Conquest,  and  that  he  had  saved  the  life  of 
more  than  one  favorite  domestic  who  had  fled  to  him  for  protection. 
05  they  were  about  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  Manes  of  their  deceased 
lords.  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

s  Yet  these  sepulchral  mines  have  sometimes  proved  worth  the  dig- 
ging. Sarmiento  speaks  of  gold  to  the  value  of  100,000  castellanos 
as  occasionally  buried  with  the  Indian  lords  ( Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  57) ; 
and  Las  Casas — not  the  best  authority  in  numerical  estimates — says 
that  treasures  worth  more  than  half  a  million  of  ducats  had  been  found 
within  twenty  years  after  the  Conquest,  in  the  tombs  near  Truxillo. 
(CEuvres,  ed.  Llorente  (Paris,  1822),  torn.  ii.  p.  192.)  Baron  Hum- 
boldt  visited  the  sepulchre  of  a  Peruvian  prince,  in  the  same  quarter 
of  the  country,  whence  a  Spaniard  in  1576  drew  forth  a  mass  of  gold 
worth  a  million  of  dollars !  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  29. 

6  Pachacamac  signifies  "  He  who  sustains  or  gives  life  to  the  uni- 
verse." The  name  of  the  great  deity  is  sometimes  expressed  by  both 
Pachacamac  and  Viracocha  combined.  (See  Balboa,  Hist,  du  Perou, 
chap.  6. — Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  21.)  An  old  Spaniard  finds  in  the  popular 
ig  of  Viracocka,  "  foam  of  the  sea,"  an  argument  for  deriving 


94  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    IXC  AS. 

No  temple  was  raised  to  this  invisible  Being,  save  one 
only  in  the  valley  which  took  its  name  from  the  deity 
himself,  not  far  from  the  Spanish  city  of  Lima.  Even 
this  temple  had  existed  there  before  the  country  came 
under  the  sway  of  the  Incas,  and  was  the  great  resort 
of  Indian  pilgrims  from  remote  parts  of  the  land, — a 
circumstance  which  suggests  the  idea  that  the  worship 
of  this  Great  Spirit,  though  countenanced,  perhaps,  by 
their  accommodating  policy,  did  not  originate  with  the 
Peruvian  princes.7* 

the  Peruvian  civilization  from  some  voyager  from  the  Old  World. 
Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. 

7  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS., 
cap.  27. — Ulloa  notices  the  extensive  ruins  of  brick,  which  mark  the 
probable  site  of  the  temple  of  Pachacamac,  attesting  by  their  present 
appearance  its  ancient  magnificence  and  strength.  Memoires  philoso- 
phiques,  historiques,  physiques  (Paris,  1787).  trad.  Fr.,  p.  78. 


*  [Not  only  this  inference,  but  the  facts  on  which  it  rests,  are  strenu- 
ously disputed  by  Mr.  Markham,  on  the  ground  that  Pachacamac  "  is 
an  Ynca  word,  and  is  wholly  foreign  to,  and  unconnected  with,  the 
coast  language."  It  was  the  name,  he  says,  given  by  the  Incas  to 
the  coast-city,  when  they  conquered  it,  "  for  some  reason  that  has  not 
been  preserved,  possibly  on  account  of  its  size  and  importance."  "  The 
natives  worshipped  a  fish-god  there  under  a  name  now  lost,  which 
became  famous  as  an  oracle  and  attracted  pilgrims ;  and  when  the 
Yncas  conquered  the  place  they  raised  a  temple  to  the  Sun  on  the 
summit  of  the  hill  commanding  the  city."  "  But  they  never  built  any 
temple  to  Pachacamac,  and  there  never  was  one  to  that  deity,  except 
at  Cuzco."  (Reports  of  the  Discovery  of  Peru,  Introduction,  xiv- 
xx.)  There  seems  to  be  here  much  more  of  assertion  than  of  argu- 
ment or  proof.  The  statement  that  there  was  a  temple  to  Pachacamac 
at  Cuzco  is  a  novel  one,  for  which  no  authority  is  adduced,  and  it  is 
in  direct  contradiction  to  the  reiterated  assertions  of  Garcilasso,  that 
the  Peruvians  worshipped  Pachacamac  only  "inwardly,  as  an  unknown 
God,"  to  whom  they  built  no  temples  and  offered  no  sacrifices.  For 
the  statement  that  the  Incas  "  erected  a  temple  of  the  Sun"  at  Pachaca- 


DEITIES. 


95 


The  deity  whose  worship  they  especially  inculcated, 
and  which  they  never  failed  to  establish  wherever  their 
banners  were  known  to  penetrate,  was  the  Sun.  It  was 
he  who,  in  a  particular  manner,  presided  over  the  des- 
tinies of  man ;  gave  light  and  warmth  to  the  nations, 
and  life  to  the  vegetable  world  ;  whom  they  reverenced 
as  the  father  of  their  royal  dynasty,  the  founder  of 
their  empire;  and  whose  temples  rose  in  every  city 
and  almost  every  village  throughout  the  land,  while 
his  altars  smoked  with  burnt-offerings, — a  form  of 
sacrifice  peculiar  to  the  Peruvians  among  the  semi- 
civilized  nations  of  the  New  World.8 

8  At  least,  so  says  Dr.  McCulloh  ;  and  no  better  authority  can  be 
required  on  American  antiquities.  (Researches,  p.  392.)  Might  he 
not  have  added  barbarous  nations,  also  ? 


mac  (p.  xix),  we  are  referred  to  Cieza  de  Leon,  who  says  that  "  they 
agreed  with  the  native  chiefs  and  with  the  ministers  of  this  god  or  devil, 
that  the  temple  of  Pachacamac  should  continue  with  the  authority  and 
reverence  it  formerly  possessed,  and  that  the  loftiest  part  should  be 
set  aside  as  a  temple  of  the  Sun."  That  the  temple  had  existed  long 
prior  to  the  conquest  of  the  place  by  the  Incas  is  asserted  by  all 
authorities  and  attested  by  the  great  antiquity  of  its  remains.  Garci- 
lasso  asserts  that  its  builders  had  borrowed  the  conception  of  Pachaca- 
mac from  the  Incas, — a  less  probable  supposition  than  that  of  Prescott, 
and  equally  rejected  by  Mr.  Markham,  though  the  statement  of  the 
same  author  that  "  the  Yncas  placed  their  idols  in  this  temple,  which 
were  figures  of  fishes,"  seems  to  be  the  chief  foundation  for  his  own 
account  of  the  worship  practised  by  the  people  of  the  coast,  respecting 
which  he  admits  that  little  is  known.  What  is  known  of  it  with  any 
certainty  comes  to  us  from  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  and  Cieza  de  Leon, 
and  both  these  authorities  represent  the  temple  and  worship  of  Pacha- 
camac as  having  existed  in  the  valley  of  that  name  previous  to  the 
conquest,  or  rather  peaceful  subjugation,  of  the  province  by  the  Incas, 
and  their  sanction  of  this  religion,  in  conjunction  with  that  of  the  Sun, 
as  the  result  of  a  compromise.— ED.] 


96  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

Besides  the  Sun,  the  Incas  acknowledged  various 
objects  of  worship  in  some  way  or  other  connected 
with  this  principal  deity.  Such  was  the  Moon,  his 
sister- wife;  the  Stars,  revered  as  part  of  her  heavenly 
train, — though  the  fairest  of  them,  Venus,  known  to 
the  Peruvians  by  the  name  of  Chasca,  or  the  "youth 
with  the  long  and  curling  locks,"  was  adored  as  the 
page  of  the  Sun,  whom  he  attends  so  closely  in  his 
rising  and  in  his  setting.  They  dedicated  temples  also 
to  the  Thunder  and  Lightning,9  in  whom  they  recog- 
nized the  Sun's  dread  ministers,  and  to  the  Rainbow, 
whom  they  worshipped  as  a  beautiful  emanation  of  their 
glorious  deity.10 

9  Thunder,  Lightning,  and  Thunderbolt  could  be  all  expressed  by 
the   Peruvians  in  one  word,  Illapa.     Hence  some  Spaniards  have 
inferred  a  knowledge  of  the  Trinity  in  the  natives !     "  The  Devil  stole 
all  he  could,"  exclaims  Herrera,  with  righteous  indignation.     (Hist. 
general,  dec.  5,  lib.  4,  cap.  5.)     These,  and  even  rasher  conclusions 
(see  Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  28),  are  scouted  by  Garcilasso,  as  inventions 
of  Indian  converts,  willing  to  please  the  imaginations  of  their  Chris- 
tian teachers.     (Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  2,  cap.  5,  6 ;  lib.  3,  cap.  21.) 
Imposture  on  the  one  hand,  and  credulity  on  the  other,  have  furnished 
a  plentiful  harvest  of  absurdities,  which  has  been  diligently  gathered 
in  by  the  pious  antiquary  of  a  later  generation. 

10  Garcilasso's  assertion  that  these  heavenly  bodies  were  objects  of 
reverence  as  holy  things,  but  not  of  worship  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  I, 
lib.  2,  cap.  i,  23),  is  contradicted  by  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg..  MS.,— 
Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real..  MS..— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5.  lib.  4. 
cap.  4,— Gomara,  Hist,  de  las  Ind..  cap.  121.— and.  I  might  add,  by 
almost  every  writer  of  authority  whom  I  have  consulted.*     It  is  con- 


*  ["  Mr.  Prescott  gives  his  high  authority  in  support  of  the  Spanish 
historians  Ondegardo,  Herrera.  and  Gomara,  and  against  Garcilasso 
de  la  Vega,  in  this  matter  [the  worship  of  lightning  and  thunder  as 
deities].  Yet  surely,  in  a  question  relating  to  the  religion  of  his  an- 
cestors, the  testimony  of  the  Ynca  ...  is  worth  more  than  that  of  all 


DEITIES.  97 

In  addition  to  these,  the  subjects  of  the  Incas  en- 
rolled among  their  inferior  deities  many  objects  in 
nature,  as  the  elements,  the  winds,  the  eafth,  the  air, 
great  mountains  and  rivers,  which  impressed  them  with 
ideas  of  sublimity  and  power,  or  were  supposed  in 
some  way  or  other  to  exercise  a  mysterious  influence 
over  the  destinies  of  man."  They  adopted  also  a  no- 
tion, not  unlike  that  professed  by  some  of  the  schools 
of  ancient  philosophy,  that  every  thing  on  earth  had 
its  archetype  or  idea,  its  mother,  as  they  emphatically 
styled  it,  which  they  held  sacred,  as,  in  some  sort,  its 

tradicted,  in  a  manner,  by  the  admission  of  Garcilasso  himself,  that 
these  several  objects  were  all  personified  by  the  Indians  as  living 
beings,  and  had  temples  dedicated  to  them  as  such,  with  their  effigies 
delineated  in  the  same  manner  as  was  that  of  the  Sun  in  his  dwelling. 
Indeed,  the  effort  of  the  historian  to  reduce  the  worship  of  the  Incas 
to  that  of  the  Sun  alone  is  not  very  reconcilable  with  what  he  else- 
where says  of  the  homage  paid  to  Pachacamac,  above  all,  and  to 
Rimac,  the  great  oracle  of  the  common  people.  The  .Peruvian  my- 
thology was,  probably,  not  unlike  that  of  Hindostan.  where,  under 
two,  or  at  most  three,  principal  deities,  were  assembled  a  host  of  in- 
ferior ones,  to  whom  the  nation  paid  religious  homage,  as  personifi- 
cations of  the  different  objects  in  nature. 

11  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. — These  consecrated  objects  were 
termed  huacas, — a  word  of  most  prolific  import ;  since  it  signified  a 
temple,  a  tomb,  any  natural  object  remarkable  for  its  size  or  shape, 
in  short,  a  cloud  of  meanings,  which  by  their  contradictory  sense 
have  thrown  incalculable  confusion  over  the  writings  of  historians 
and  travellers. 

the  Spanish  historians  put  together.  Cieza  de  Leon  alone  excepted." 
(Markham.  translation  of  Garcilasso  (1869),  vol.  i.  p.  103,  note.) 
"The  sun,  moon,  and  thunder  appear  to  have  been  the  deities  next 
in  importance  to  Pachayachachic ;  sacrifices  were  made  to  them  at 
all  the  periodical  festivities,  and  several  of  the  prayers  given  by 
Molina  are  addressed  to  them."  Markham,  Rites  and  Laws  of  the 
Yncas  (1873),  Introduction,  p.  xi.  — ED.] 
Peru.— VOL.  I.— E  9 


98  CIVILIZATION    OF    Tin-. 

spiritual  essence.12  But  their  system,  far  from  l>eing 
limited  even  to  these  multiplied  objects  of  devotion, 
embraced  within  its  ample  folds  the  numerous  deities 
of  the  conquered  nations,  whose  images  were  trans- 
ported to  the  capital,  where  the  burdensome  charges 
of  their  worship  were  defrayed  by  their  respective 
provinces.  It  was  a  rare  stroke  of  policy  in  the  Incas, 
who  could  thus  accommodate  their  religion  to  their 
interests.13 

But  the  worship  of  the  Sun  constituted  the  peculiar 
care  of  the  Incas,  and  was  the  object  of  their  lavish 
expenditure.  The  most  ancient  of  the  many  temples 
dedicated  to  this  divinity  was  in  the  island  of  Titicaca, 
whence  the  royal  founders  of  the  Peruvian  line  were 
said  to  have  proceeded.  From  this  circumstance,  this 
sanctuary  was  held  in  peculiar  veneration.  Every 
thing  which  belonged  to  it,  even  the  broad  fields  of 

12  "  La  orden  por  donde  fundavan  sus  huacas  que  ellos  llamavan  & 
las  Idolatrias  hera  porque  decian  que  todas  criava  el  sol  i  que  les  dava 
madre  por  madre  que  mostravan  a  la  tierra,  porque  decian  que  tenia 
madre,  i  tenian  le  echo  su  vulto  i  sus  adoratorios,  i  al  fuego  decian 
que  tambien  tenia  madre  i  al  mais  i  &  las  otras  sementeras  i  A  las 
ovejas  iganado  decian  que  tenian  madre,  i  a  la  chocha  ques  el  brevaje 
que  ellos  usan  decian  que  el  vinagre  della  hera  la  madre  i  lo  reveren- 
ciavan  i  llamavan  mama  agua  madre  del  vinagre,  i  a  cada  cosa  ado- 
ravan  destas  de  su  manera."  Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. 

'3  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.— So  it  seems  to  have  been 
regarded  by  the  Licentiate  Ondegardo  :  "  E  los  Idolosestaban  en  aql 
galpon  grande  de  la  casa  del  Sol,  y  cada  Idolo  destos  tenia  su  servicio 
y  gastos  y  mugeres,  y  en  la  casa  del  Sol  le  iban  a  hacer  reverencia  los 
que  venian  de  su  provincial  para  lo  qual  £  sacrificios  que  se  hacian 
proveian  de  su  misma  tierra  ordinaria  e  muy  abundantemente  por  la 
misma  orden  que  lo  hacian  quando  estaba  en  la  misma  provincia,  que 
daba  gran  autoridad  a  mi  parecer  e  aun  fuerza  a  estos  Ingas  que  cierto 
me  causo  gran  admiracion."  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 


GORGEOUS   TEMPLES.  99 

maize  which  surrounded  the  temple  and  formed  part 
of  its  domain,  imbibed  a  portion  of  its  sanctity.  The 
yearly  produce  was  distributed  among  the  different 
public  magazines,  in  small  quantities  to  each,  as  some- 
thing that  would  sanctify  the  remainder  of  the  store. 
Happy  was  the  man  who  could  secure  even  an  ear  of 
the  blessed  harvest  for  his  own  granary !  '* 

But  the  most  renowned  of  the  Peruvian  temples,  the 
pride  of  the  capital,  and  the  wonder  of  the  empire, 
was  at  Cuzco,  where,  under  the  munificence  of  suc- 
cessive sovereigns,  it  had  become  so  enriched  that 
it  received  the  name  of  Coricancha,  or  "  the  Place 
of  Gold."  It  consisted  of  a  principal  building  and 
several  chapels  and  inferior  edifices,  covering  a  large 
extent  of  ground  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  and  com- 
pletely encompassed  by  a  wall,  which,  with  the  edifices, 
was  all  constructed  of  stone.  The  work  was  of  the 
kind  already  described  in  the  other  public  buildings 
of  the  country,  and  was  so  finely  executed  that  a  Span- 
iard who  saw  it  in  its  glory  assures  us  he  could  call  to 
mind  only  two  edifices  in  Spain  which,  for  their  work- 
manship, were  at  all  to  be  compared  with  it.'s  Yet 

»«  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  3,  cap.  25. 

»s  ••  Tenia  este  Templo  en  circuito  mas  de  quatro  cientos  pasos,  todo 
cercado  de  una  muralla  fuerte,  labrado  todo  el  edificio  de  camera  muy 
excelente  de  fina  piedra,  muy  bien  puesta  y  asentada.  y  algunas  piedras 
eran  muy  grandes  y  soberbias.  no  tenian  mezcla  de  tierra  ni  cal.  sino 
con  el  betun  que  ellos  suelen  hacer  sus  edificios,  y  estan  tan  bien  labra- 
das  estas  piedras  que  no  se  les  parece  mezcla  ni  juntura  ninguna.  En 
toda  Espana  no  he  visto  cosa  que  pueda  comparar  a  estas  paredes  y 
postura  de  piedra,  sino  a  la  torre  que  llaman  la  Calahorra  que  esta 
junto  con  la  puente  de  Cordoba,  y  a  una  obra  que  vi  en  Toledo, 
cuando  fui  a  presentar  la  primera  parte  de  mi  Cronica  al  Principe 
D"»  Felipe,"  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  24. 


ioo  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

this  substantial  and,  in  some  respects,  magnificent 
structure  was  thatched  with  straw  ! 

The  interior  of  the  temple  was  the  most  worthy  of 
admiration.  It  was  literally  a  mine  of  gold.  On  the 
western  wall  was  emblazoned  a  representation  of  the 
deity,  consisting  of  a  human  countenance  looking  forth 
from  amidst  innumerable  rays  of  light,  which  emanated 
from  it  in  every  direction,  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
sun  is  often  personified  with  us.  The  figure  was  en- 
graved on  a  massive  plate  of  gold  of  enormous  dimen- 
sions, thickly  powdered  with  emeralds  and  precious 
stones.16  It  was  so  situated  in  front  of  the  great  east- 
ern portal  that  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun  fell  directly 
upon  it  at  its  rising,  lighting  up  the  whole  apartment 
with  an  effulgence  that  seemed  more  than  natural,  and 
which  was  reflected  back  from  the  golden  ornaments 
with  which  the  walls  and  ceiling  were  everywhere  in- 
crusted.  Gold,  in  the  figurative  language  of  the  people, 
was  "the  tears  wept  by  the  sun,"'7  and  every  part  of 
the  interior  of  the  temple  glowed  with  burnished  plates 
and  studs  of  the  precious  metal.  The  cornices  which 
surrounded  the  walls  of  the  sanctuary  were  of  the  same 
costly  material ;  and  a  broad  belt  or  frieze  of  gold,  let 
into  the  stone-work,  encompassed  the  whole  exterior 
of  the  edifice.18 

<  l6  Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru.  MS.— Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  44, 92. 
— "  La  figura  del  Sol,  muy  grande,  hecha  de  oro  obrada  muy  prima- 
mente  engastonada  en  muchas  piedras  ricas."  Sarmiento,  Relacion, 
MS.,  cap.  24. 

*7  "  I  al  oro  asimismo  decian  que  era  lagrimas  que  el  Sol  llorava." 
Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. 

18  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  24.— Antig.  y  Monumentos  del 
Peru,  MS.—"  Cercada  junto  a  la  techumbre  de  una  plancha  de  oro  de 


GORGEOUS  TEMPLES.  101 

Adjoining  the  principal  structures  were  several  chapels 
of  smaller  dimensions.  One  of  them  was  consecrated 
to  the  Moon,  the  deity  held  next  in  reverence,  as  the 
mother  of  the  Incas.  Her  effigy  was  delineated  in  the 
same  manner  as  that  of  the  Sun,  on  a  vast  plate  that 
nearly  covered  one  side  of  the  apartment.  But  this 
plate,  as  well  as  all  the  decorations  of  the  building, 
was  of  silver,  as  suited  to  the  pale,  silvery  light  of  the 
beautiful  planet.  There  were  three  other  chapels,  one 
of  which  was  dedicated  to  the  host  of  Stars,  who 
formed  the  bright  court  of  the  Sister  of  the  Sun ;  an- 
other was  consecrated  to  his  dread  ministers  of  ven- 
geance, the  Thunder  and  the  Lightning;  and  a  third, 
to  the  Rainbow,  whose  many-colored  arch  spanned  the 
walls  of  the  edifice  with  hues  almost  as  radiant  as  its 
own.  There  were,  besides,  several  other  buildings,  or 
insulated  apartments,  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
numerous  priests  who  officiated  in  the  services  of  the 
temple. '» 

All  the  plate,  the  ornaments,  the  utensils  of  every 
description,  appropriated  to  the  uses  of  religion,  were 
of  gold  or  silver.  Twelve  immense  vases  of  the  latter 
metal  stood  on  the  floor  of  the  great  saloon,  filled  with 
grain  of  the  Indian  corn  ;  *  the  censers  for  the  per- 

palmo  i  medio  de  ancho  i  lo  mismo  tenian  por  de  dentro  en  cada  bo- 
hio  6  casa  i  aposento."  (Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,i/S.)  "Teniauna 
cinta  de  planchas  de  oro  de  anchor  de  mas  de  un  palmo  enlazadas  en 
las  piedras."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 

'»  Sarmiento,  Relacion.MS.,  cap.  24. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte 
i,  lib.  3,  cap.  21. —  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 

30  "  El  bulto  del  Sol  tenian  mui  grande  dc  oro,  i  todo  el  servicio 
desta  casa  era  de  plata  i  oro,  i  tenian  doze  horones  de  plata  blanca 
que  dos  hombres  no  abrazarian  cada  uno  quadrados,  i  eran  mas  altos 
9* 


102  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

fumes,  the  ewers  which  held  the  water  for  sacrifice,  the 
pipes  which  conducted  it  through  subterraneous  chan- 
nels into  the  buildings,  the  reservoirs  that  received  it, 
even  the  agricultural  implements  used  in  the  gardens 
of  the  temple,  were  all  of  the  same  rich  materials. 
The  gardens,  like  those  described  belonging  to  the 
royal  palaces,  sparkled  with  flowers  of  gold  and  silver, 
and  various  imitations  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
Animals,  also,  were  to  be  found  there, — among  which 
the  llama,  with  its  golden  fleece,  was  most  conspicu- 
ous— executed  in  the  same  style,  and  with  a  degree 
of  skill  which,  in  this  instance,  probably,  did  not  sur- 
pass the  excellence  of  the  mater ial.ai 

If  the  reader  sees  in  this  fairy  picture  only  the 
romantic  coloring  of  some  fabulous  El  Dorado,  he 

que  una  buena  pica  donde  hechavan  el  maiz  que  havian  de  dar  al 
Sol,  segun  ellos  decian  que  comiese."  Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. — 
The  original,  as  the  Spanish  reader  perceives,  says  each  of  these  silver 
vases 'or  bins  was  as  high  as  a  good  lance,  and  so  large  that  two  men 
with  outspread  arms  could  barely  encompass  them  !  As  this  might 
perhaps  embarrass  even  the  most  accommodating  faith,  I  have  pre- 
ferred not  to  become  responsible  for  any  particular  dimensions. 

21  Levinus  Apollonius,  fol.  38.  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i, 
lib.  3,  cap.  24. — Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — "  Tenian  un 
Jardin  que  los  Terrones  eran  pedazos  de  oro  fino  y  estaban  artificiosa- 
mente  sembrado  de  maizales  los  quales  eran  oro  asi  las  Cafias  de  ello 
como  las  ojas  y  mazorcas,  y  estaban  tan  bien  plantados  que  aunque 
hiciesen  recios  bientos  no  se  arrancaban.  Sin  todo  esto  tenian  hechas 
mas  de  veinte  obejas  de  oro  con  sus  Corderos  y  los  Pastores  con  sus 
ondas  y  cayados  que  las  guardaban  hecho  de  este  metal ;  havia  mucha 
cantidad  de  Tinajas  de  oro  y  de  Plata  y  esmeraldas,  vasos,  ollas  y 
todo  genero  de»vasijas  todo  de  oro  fino;  por  otras  Paredes  tenian 
esculpidas  y  pintadas  otras  mayores  cosas,  en  fin  era  uno  de  los  ricos 
Templos  que  hubo  en  el  mundo."  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap. 
24. 


GORGEOUS    TEMPLES. 


103 


must  recall  what  has  been  said  before  in  reference  to 
the  palaces  of  the  Incas,  and  consider  that  these 
"Houses  of  the  Sun,"  as  they  were  styled,  were  the 
common  reservoir  into  which  flowed  all  the  streams  of 
public  and  private  benefaction  throughout  the  empire. 
Some  of  the  statements,  through  credulity,  and  others, 
in  the  desire  of  exciting  admiration,  may  be  greatly 
exaggerated ;  but  in  the  coincidence  of  contemporary 
testimony  it  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  exact  line 
which  should  mark  the  measure  of  our  skepticism. 
Certain  it  is  that  the  glowing  picture  I  have  given  is 
warranted  by  those  who  saw  these  buildings  in  their 
pride,  or  shortly  after  they  had  been  despoiled  by  the 
cupidity  of  their  countrymen.  Many  of  the  costly 
articles  were  buried  by  the  natives,  or  thrown  into  the 
waters  of  the  rivers  and  the  lakes  ;  but  enough  remained 
to  attest  the  unprecedented  opulence  of  these  religious 
establishments.  Such  things  as  were  in  their  nature 
portable  were  speedily  removed,  to  gratify  the  craving 
of  the  Conquerors,  who  even  tore  away  the  solid  cor- 
nices and  frieze  of  gold  from  the  great  temple,  filling 
the  vacant  places  with  the  cheaper,  but — since  it  affords 
no  temptation  to  avarice — more  durable,  material  of 
plaster.  Yet  even  thus  shorn  of  their  splendor  the  ven- 
erable edifices  still  presented  an  attraction  to  the  spoiler, 
who  found  in  their  dilapidated  walls  an  inexhaustible 
quarry  for  the  erection  of  other  buildings.  On  the 
very  ground  once  crowned  by  the  gorgeous  Coricancha 
rose  the  stately  church  of  St.  Dominic,  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  structures  of  the  New  World.  Fields  of 
maize  and  lucerne  now  bloom  on  the  spot  which  glowed 
with  the  golden  gardens  of  the  temple ;  and  the  friar  j 


104  CIVILIZATION   01-     THE    INCAS. 

chants  his  orisons  within  the  consecrated  precincts  once 
occupied  by  the  Children  of  the  Sun." 

Besides  the  great  temple  of  the  Sun,  there  was  a  large 
number  of  inferior  temples  and  religious  houses  in  the 
Peruvian  capital  and  its  environs,  amounting,  as  is  stated, 
to  three  or  four  hundred.23  For  Cuzco  was  a  sanctified 
spot,  venerated  not  only  as  the  abode  of  the  Incas,  but 
of  all  those  deities  who  presided  over  the  motley  nations 
of  the  empire.  It  was  the  city  beloved  of  the  Sun ; 
where  his  worship  was  maintained  in  its  splendor ; 
"where  every  fountain,  pathway,  and  wall,"  says  an 
ancient  chronicler,  "  was  regarded  as  a  holy  mystery."  ** 
And  unfortunate  was  the  Indian  noble  who,  at  some 
period  or  other  of  his  life,  had  not  made  his  pilgrimage 
to  the  Peruvian  Mecca. 

Other  temples  and  religious  dwellings  were  scattered 
over  the  provinces,  and  some  of  them  constructed  on 
a  scale  of  magnificence  that  almost  rivalled  that  of  the 
metropolis.  The  attendants  on  these  composed  an 
army  of  themselves.  The  whole  number  of  function- 
aries, including  those  of  the  sacerdotal  order,  who 
officiated  at  the  Coricancha  alone,  was  no  less  than  four 
thousand.25 

22  Miller's  Memoirs,  vol.  ii.  pp.  223,  224. 

23  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  4,  cap.  8. — "  Havia  en  aquella 
ciudad  y  legua  y  media  de  la  redonda  quatrocientos  y  tantos  lugares, 
donde  se  hacian  sacrificios,  y  se  gastava  mncha  suma  de  hacienda  en 
ellos."     Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. 

"*  "  Que  aquella  ciudad  del  Cuzco  era  casa  y  morada  de  Dioses,  e 
ansi  no  habia  en  toda  ella  fuente  ni  paso  ni  pared  que  no  dixesen  que 
tenia  misterio."  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 

2s  Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS.— An  army,  indeed,  if,  as  Cieza  de 
Leon  states,  the  number  of  priests  and  menials  employed  in  the  famous 
temple  of  Bilcas,  on  the  route  to  Chili,  amounted  to  40,000 !  (Cronica, 


SACERDOTAL    ORDER.  105 

At  the  head  of  all,  both  here  and  throughout  the 
iand,  stood  the  great  High-Priest,  or  Villac  Vmu,  as 
he  was  called.  He  was  second  only  to  the  Inca  in 
dignity,  and  was  usually  chosen  from  his  brothers  or 
nearest  kindred.  He  was  appointed  by  the  monarch, 
and  held  his  office  for  life ;  and  he,  in  turn,  appointed 
to  all  the  subordinate  stations  of  his  own  order.  This 
order  was  very  numerous.  Those  members  of  it  who 
officiated  in  the  House  of  the  Sun,  in  Cuzco,  were 
taken  exclusively  from  the  sacred  race  of  the  Incas. 
The  ministers  in  the  provincial  temples  were  drawn 
from  the  families  of  the  curacas ;  but  the  office  of 
high-priest  in  each  district  was  reserved  for  one  of  the 
blood  royal.  It  was  designed  by  this  regulation  to 
preserve  the  faith  in  its  purity,  and  to  guard  against 
any  departure  from  the  stately  ceremonial  which  it 
punctiliously  prescribed." 

The  sacerdotal  order,  though  numerous,  was  not  dis- 
tinguished by  any  peculiar  badge  or  costume  from  the 
rest  of  the  nation.  Neither  was  it  the  sole  depository 
of  the  scanty  science  of  the  country,  nor  was  it  charged 
with  the  business  of  instruction,  nor  with  those  paro- 
chial duties,  if  they  may  so  be  called,  which  bring  the 

cap.  89.)  Every  thing  relating  to  these  Houses  of  the  Sun  appears 
to  have  been  on  a  grand  scale.  But  we  may  easily  believe  this  a 
clerical  error,  for  4000. 

96  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  27. — Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. 
— It  was  only  while  the  priests  were  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  tem- 
ples that  they  were  maintained,  according  to  Garcilasso,  from  the  estates 
of  the  Sun.  At  other  times  they  were  to  get  their  support  from  their 
own  lands,  which,  if  he  is  correct,  were  assigned  to  them  in  the  same 
manner  as  to  the  other  orders  of  the  nation.  Com.  Real.,  Parte  I. 
lib.  5,  cap.  8. 
E* 


I06  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

priest  in  contact  with  the  'great  body  of  the  people,— 
as  was  the  case  in  Mexico.  The  cause  of  this  pecu- 
liarity may  probably  be  traced  to  the  existence  of  a 
superior  order,  like  that  of  the  Inca  nobles,  whose 
sanctity  of  birth  so  far  transcended  all  human  appoint- 
ments that  they  in  a  manner  engrossed  whatever  there 
was  of  religious  veneration  in  the  people.  They  were. 
in  fact,  the  holy  order  of  the  state.  Doubtless,  any  of 
them  might,  as  very  many  of  them  did,  take  on  them- 
selves the  sacerdotal  functions ;  and  their  own  insignia 
and  peculiar  privileges  were  too  well  understood  to 
require  any  further  badge  to  separate  them  from  the 
people. 

The  duties  of  the  priest  were  confined  to  ministra- 
tion in  the  temple.  Even  here  his  attendance  was  not 
constant,  as  he  was  relieved  after  a  stated  interval  by 
other  brethren  of  his  order,  who  succeeded  one  another 
in  regular  rotation.  His  science  was  limited  to  an 
acquaintance  with  the  fasts  and  festivals  of  his  religion, 
and  the  appropriate  ceremonies  which  distinguished 
them.  This,  however  frivolous  might  be  its  character, 
was  no  easy  acquisition ;  for  the  ritual  of  the  Incas  in- 
volved a  routine  of  observances  as  complex  and  elabor- 
ate as  ever  distinguished  that  of  any  natiou,  whether 
pagan  or  Christian.  Each  month  had  its  appropriate 
festival,  or  rather  festivals.  The  four  principal  had 
reference  to  the  Sun,  and  commemorated,  the  great 
periods  of  his  annual  progress,  the  solstices  and  equi- 
noxes. Perhaps  the  most  magnificent  of  all  the  national 
solemnities  was  the  feast  of  Raymi,  held  at  the  period 
of  the  summer  solstice,  when  the  Sun,  having  touched 
the  southern  extremity  of  his  course,  retraced  his  path, 


FESTIVALS.  107 

as  if  to  gladden  the  hearts  of  his  chosen  people  by 
his  presence.  On  this  occasion  the  Indian  nobles 
from  the  different  quarters  of  the  country  thronged 
to  the  capital  to  take  part  in  the  great  religious  cele- 
bration. 

For  three  days  previous,  there  was  a  general  fast,  and 
no  fire  was  allowed  to  be  lighted  in  the  dwellings. 
When  the  appointed  day  arrived,  the  Inca  and  his 
court,  followed  by  the  whole  population  of  the  city, 
assembled  at  early  dawn  in  the  great  square  to  greet 
the  rising  of  the  Sun.  They  were  dressed  in  their 
gayest  apparel,  and  the  Indian  lords  vied  with  each 
other  in  the  display  of  costly  ornaments  and  jewels 
on  their  persons,  while  canopies  of  gaudy  feather-work 
and  richly-tinted  stuffs,  borne  by  the  attendants  over 
their  heads,  gave  to  the  great  square,  and  the  streets 
that  emptied  into  it,  the  .appearance  of  being  spread 
over  with  one  vast  and  magnificent  awning.  Eagerly 
they  watched  the  coming  of  their  deity,  and  no  sooner 
did  his  first  yellow  rays  strike  the  turrets  and  loftiest 
buildings  of  the  capital  than  a  shout  of  gratulation 
broke  forth  from  the  assembled  multitude,  accompanied 
by  songs  of  triumph  and  the  wild  melody  of  barbaric 
instruments,  that  swelled  louder  and  louder  as  his  bright 
orb,  rising  above  the  mountain- range  towards  the  east, 
shone  in  full  splendor  on  his  votaries.  After  the  usual 
ceremonies  of  adoration,  a  libation  was  offered  to  the 
j^reat  deity  by  the  Inca,  from  a  huge  golden  vase,  filled 
with  the  fermented  liquor  of  maize  or  of  maguey, 
which,  after  the  monarch  had  tasted  it  himself,  he 
dispensed  among  his  royal  kindred.  These  cere- 
monies completed,  the  vast  assembly  was  arranged 


I08  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

in  order  of  procession  and  took   its  way  towards  the 
Coricancha.27 

As  they  entered  the  street  of  the  sacred  edifice,  all 
divested  themselves  of  their  sandals,  except  the  Inca 
and  his  family,  who  did  the  same  on  passing  through 
the  portals  of  the  temple,  where  none  but  these  august 
personages  were  admitted.28  After  a  decent  time  spent 
in  devotion,  the  sovereign,  attended  by  his  courtly 
train,  again  appeared,  and  preparations  were  made  to 
commence  the  sacrifice.  This,  with  the  Peruvians, 
consisted  of  animals,  grain,  flowers,  and  sweet-scented 
gums, — sometimes  of  human  beings,  on  which  occa- 
sions a  child  or  beautiful  maiden  was  usually  selected 
as  the  victim.  But  such  sacrifices  were  rare,  being 
reserved  to  celebrate  some  great  public  event,  as  a 
coronation,  the  birth  of  a  royal  heir,  or  a  great  vic- 
tory. They  were  never  followed  by  those  cannibal 
repasts  familiar  to  the  Mexicans  and  to  many  of  the 
fierce  tribes  conquered  by  the  Incas.  Indeed,  the  con- 
quests of  these  princes  might  well  be  deemed  a  blessing 
to  the  Indian  nations,  if  it  were  only  from  their  sup- 
pression of  cannibalism,  and  the  diminution,  under 
their  rule,  of  human  sacrifices.29 

"7  Dec.de la  Aud.  Real.,  MS.— Sarmiento.  Relacion,  MS.,  Cap.  27. 
— The  reader  will  find  a  brilliant,  and  not  very  extravagant,  account 
of  the  Peruvian  festivals  in  Marmontel's  romance  of  Les  Incas.  The 
French  author  saw  in  their  gorgeous  ceremonial  a  fitting  introduction 
to  his  own  literary  pageant.  Tom.  i.  chap.  1-4. 

8  "  Ningun  Indio  comun  osaba  pasar  por  la  calle  del  Sol  calzado ; 
ni  ninguno,  aunque  fuese  mui  grand  Senor,  entrava  en  las  casas  del 
Sol  con  zapatos."  Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. 

*9  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  flatly  denies  that  the  Incas  were  guilty  of 
human  sacrifices,  and  maintains,  on  the  other  hand,  that  they  uni- 


FESTIVALS. 


109 


At  the  feast  of  Raymi,  the  sacrifice  usually  offered 
was  that  of  the  llama ;  and   the  priest,  after  opening 

formly  abolished  them  in  every  country  they  subdued,  where  they  had 
previously  existed.  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  i.  lib.  2,  cap.  9,  et  alibi.)  But 
in  this  material  fact  he  is  unequivocally  contradicted  by  Sarmiento, 
Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  22.— Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS..— Montesinos. 
Mem.  antiguas,  MS.,  lib.  2.  cap.  8,— Balboa,  Hist,  du  Perou,  chap. 
5,  8. — Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  72, — Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS.. 
— Acosta.  lib.  5,  cap.  19, — and  I  might  add,  I  suspect,  were  I  to  pur- 
sue the  inquiry,  by  nearly  every  ancient  writer  of  authority  ;  some  of 
whom,  having  come  into  the  country  soon  after  the  Conquest,  while 
its  primitive  institutions  were  in  vigor,  are  entitled  to  more  deference 
in  a  matter  of  this  kind  than  Garcilasso  himself.  It  was  natural  that 
the  descendant  of  the  Incas  should  desire  to  relieve  his  race  from  so 
odious  an  imputation  ;  and  we  must  have  charity  for  him  if  he  does 
show  himself  on  some  occasions,  where  the  honor  of  his  country  is  at 
stake,  "  high  gravel  blind."  It  should  be  added,  in  justice  to  the  Pe- 
ruvian government,  that  the  best  authorities  concur  in  the  admission 
that  the  sacrifices  were  few.  both  in  number  and  in  magnitude,  being 
reserved  for  such  extraordinary  occasions  as  those  mentioned  in  the 
text.* 

*  [In  a  long  note  on  the  passage  in  Garcilasso  relating  to  the  sub- 
ject, Mr.  Markham  asserts  that  "  the  Yncas  did  not  offer  up  human 
sacrifices,"  and,  complaining  that  "  Mr.  Prcscott  allows  himself  to 
accept  Spanish  testimony  in  preference  to  that  of  the  Ynca"  Garci- 
lasso, examines  the  evidence  adduced,  and  rejects  it  as  proceeding 
from  credulity,  prejudice,  and  ignorance.  Several  of  the  objections 
he  alleges  would  require  detailed  consideration  if  the  question  had  not 
since  been  definitively  settled  by  his  own  publication,  in  an  English 
translation,  of  an  important  and  trustworthy  account,  by  Christoval 
de  Molina,  of  the  rites  practised  by  the  Incas.  From  this  it  appears 
that,  while  the  ordinary  sacrifices  consisted  of  the  "  sheep"  and 
"  lambs"  of  the  country,  the  great  festival  called  Coapacocfia  or  Cacha- 
huaca  was  celebrated  with  human  sacrifices  both  at  Cuzco  and  at  the 
chief  town  of  each  province.  The  victims  consisted  of  children,  male 
and  female,  aged  about  ten  years,  one  or  two  being  selected  from 
each  lineage  or  tribe.  Some  were  strangled  :  "  from  others  they  took 
out  the  hearts  while  yet  alive,  and  offered  them  to  the  Auacas  wnile 
Peru. — VOL.  I.  10 


|IO  CIVILIZATION   OF    Till-.     IXC  AS. 

the  body  of  his  victim,  sought  in  the  appearances 
which  it  exhibited  to  read  the  lesson  of  the  mysterious 
future.  If  the  auguries  were  unpropitious,  a  second 
victim  was  slaughtered,  in  the  hope  of  receiving  some 
more  comfortable  assurance.  The  Peruvian  augur  might 
have  learned  a  good  lesson  of  the  Roman, — to  consider 
every  omen  as  favorable  which  served  the  interests  of 
his  country.30 

A  fire  was  then  kindled  by  means  of  a  concave  mirror 
of  polished  metal,  which,  collecting  the  rays  of  the  sun 
into  a  focus  upon  a  quantity  of  dried  cotton,  speedily 
set  it  on  fire.  It  was  the  expedient  used  on  the  like 
occasions  in  ancient  Rome,  at  least  under  the  reign  of 
the  pious  Numa.  When  the  sky  was  overcast,  and  the 
face  of  the  good  deity  was  hidden  from  his  worship- 
pers, which  was  esteemed  a  bad  omen,  fire  was  obtained 
by  means  of  friction.  The  sacred  flame  was  intrusted 
to  the  care  of  the  Virgins  of  the  Sun  ;  and  if,  by  any 

3°  "  Augurque  cum  esset,  dicere  ausus  est,  optimis  auspiciis  ea  geri. 
quae  pro  reipublicae  salute  gererentur."  (Cicero,  De  Senectute.) — 
This  inspection  of  the  entrails  of  animals  for  the  purposes  cl  divina- 
tion is  worthy  of  note,  as  a  most  rare,  if  not  a  solitary,  instance  of 
the  kind  among  the  nations  of  the  New  World,  though  so  familiar 
in  the  ceremonial  of  sacrifice  among  the  pagan  nations  of  the  Old. 


yet  palpitating."  The  bodies  were  interred  with  the  other  sacrifices. 
"They  also  had  a  custom,  when  they  conquered  and  subjugated  any 
nations,  of  selecting  some  of  the  handsomest  of  the  conquered  people 
and  sending  them  to  Cuzco,  where  they  were  sacrificed  to  the  Sun, 
who,  as  they  said,  had  given  them  the  victory."  (Fables  and  Rites 
of  the  Yncas,  pp.  54-59.)  Mr.  Markham  describes  the  narrative  of 
Molina  as  supplying  "  more  than  one  incidental  corroboration  of  the 
correctness  of  Garcilasso's  statements,"  but  omits  to  notice  its  inci- 
dental contradiction  .of  them  on  this  very  important  point.— ED.] 


/•'KST/l'ALS.  Ill 

neglect,  it  was  suffered  to  go  out  in  the  course  of  the 
year,  the  event  was  regarded  as  a  calamity  that  boded 
some  strange  disaster  to  the  monarchy.31  A  burnt-offer- 
ing of  the  victims  was  then  made  on  the  altars  of  the 
deity.  This  sacrifice  was  but  the  prelude  to  the  slaugh- 
ter of  a  great  number  of  llamas,  part  of  the  flocks  of  the 
Sun,  which  furnished  a  banquet  not  only  for  the  Inca 
and  his  court,  but  for  the  people,  who  made  amends  at 
these  festivals  for  the  frugal  fare  to  which  they  were 
usually  condemned.  A  fine  bread  or  cake,  kneaded 
of  mai/.e  flour  by  the  fair  hands  of  the  Virgins  of  the 
Sun,  was  also  placed  on  the  royal  board,  where  the 
Inca,  presiding  over  the  feast,  pledged  his  great  nobles 
in  generous  goblets  of  the  fermented  liquor  of  the 
country,  and  the  long  revelry  of  the  day  was  closed  at 
night  by  music  and  dancing.  Dancing  and  drinking 
were  the  favorite  pastimes  of  the  Peruvians.  These 
amusements  continued  for  several  days,  though  the 
sacrifices  terminated  on  the  first.  Such  was  the  great 
festival  of  Raymi ;  and  the  recurrence  of  this  and 
similar  festivities  gave  relief  to  the  monotonous  routine 
of  toil  prescribed  to  the  lower  orders  of  the  com- 
munity.3' 

In  the  distribution  of  bread  and  wine  at  this  high 
festival,  the  orthodox  Spaniards  who  first  came  into 
the  country  saw  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  Chris 

31  "  Vigilcmque  sacra verat  ignem, 
Excubias  divum  xternas." 

Plutarch,  in  his  life  of  Numa,  describes  the  reflectors  used  by  the 
Romans  for  kindling  the  sacred  fire,  as  concave  instruments  of  brass, 
though  not  spherical  like  the  Peruvian,  but  of  a  triangular  form. 

3*  Acosta,  lib.  5,  cup,  28,  29. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i.  lib. 
6,  cap,  23. 


1I2  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

tian  communion;33  as  in  the  practice  of  confession 
and  penance,  which,  in  a  most  irregular  form  indeed, 
seems  to  have  been  used  by  the  Peruvians,  they  dis~ 
cerned  a  coincidence  with  another  of  the  sacraments 
of  the  Church.34  The  good  fathers  were  fond  of  tracing 
such  coincidences,  which  they  considered  as  the  con- 
trivance of  Satan,  who  thus  endeavored  to  delude  his 
victims  by  counterfeiting  the  blessed  rites  of  Chris- 
tianity.35 Others,  in  a  different  vein,  imagined  that 
they  saw  in  such  analogies  the  evidence  that  some  of 
the  primitive  teachers  of  the  gospel,  perhaps  an  apostle 
himself,  had  paid  a  visit  to  these  distant  regions  and 
scattered  over  them  the  seeds  of  religious  truth.36  But 

33  "That  which  is  most  admirable  in  the  hatred  and  presumption 
of  Sathan  is,  that  he  not  onely  counterfeited  in  idolatry  and  sacrifices, 
but  also  in  certain  ceremonies,  our  sacraments,  which  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord  instituted,  and  the  holy  Church  uses,  having  especially  pretended 
to  imitate,  in  some  sort,  the  sacrament  of  the  communion,  which  is  the 
most  high  and  divine  of  all  others."  Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  23. 

34Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  4,  cap.  4. — Ondegardo,  Rel. 
Prim.,  MS. — "  The  father  of  lies  would  likewise  counterfeit  the  sacra- 
ment of  Confession,  and  in  his  idolatries  sought  to  be  honored  with 
ceremonies  very  like  to  the  manner  of  Christians."  Acosta,  lib.  5. 
cap.  25. 

35  Cieza  de  Leon,  not  content  with  many  marvellous  accounts  of 
the  influence  and  real  apparition  of  Satan  in  the  Indian  ceremonies, 
has  garnished  his  volume  with  numerous  wood-cuts  representing  the 
Prince  of  Evil  in  bodily  presence,  with  the  usual  accompaniments  of 
tail,  claws,  etc.,  as  if  to  re-enforce  the  homilies  in  his  text !    The  Peru- 
vian saw  in  his  idol  a  god.     His  Christian  conqueror  saw  in  it  the 
Devil.    One  may  be  puzzled  to  decide  which  of  the  two  might  lay 
claim  to  the  grossest  superstition. 

36  Piedrahita,  the  historian  of  the  Muyscas,  is  satisfied  that  this 
apostle  must  have  been  St.  Bartholomew,  whose  travels  were  known 
to  have  been  extensive.     (Conq.  de  Granada,  Parte  i,  lib.  i.  cap.  3.) 
The  Mexican  antiquaries  consider  St.  Thomas  as  having  had  charge 


OF    THE    SUN.  II3 

it  seems  nardly  necessary  to  invoke  the  Prince  of  Dark- 
ness, or  the  intervention  of  the  blessed  saints,  to  ac- 
count for  coincidences  which  have  existed  in  countries 
far  removed  from  the  light  of  Christianity,  and  in 
ages,  indeed,  when  its  light  had  not  yet  risen  on  the 
world.  It  is  much  more  reasonable  to  refer  such 
casual  points  of  resemblance  to  the  general  constitu- 
tion of  man  and  the  necessities  of  his  moral  nature.37 

Another  singular  analogy  with  Roman  Catholic  in- 
stitutions is  presented  by  the  Virgins  of  the  Sun,  the 
"elect,"  as  they  were  called,38  to  whom  I  have  already 
had  occasion  to  refer.  These  were  young  maidens, 
dedicated  to  the  service  of  the  deity,  who,  at  a  tender 
age,  were  taken  from  their  homes  and  introduced  into 
convents,  where  they  were  placed  under  the  care  of 
certain  elderly  matrons,  mamaconas,  who  had  grown 
gray  within  their  walls.39  Under  these  venerable  guides 
the  holy  virgins  were  instructed  in  the  nature  of  their 

of  the  mission  to  the  people  of  Anahuac.  These  two  apostles,  then, 
would  seem  to  have  divided  the  New  World,  at  least  the  civilized  por- 
tions of  it,  between  them.  How  they  came,  whether  by  Behring's 
Straits,  or  directly  across  the  Atlantic,  we  are  not  informed.  Velasco 
— a  writer  of  the  eighteenth  century  ! — has  little  doubt  that  they  did 
really  come.  Hist,  de  Quito,  torn.  i.  pp.  89,  90. 

37  The  subject  is  illustrated  by  some  examples  in  the  "  History  of 
the  Conquest  of  Mexico,"  vol.  iii.,  Appendix  No.  i ;  since  the  same 
usages  in  that  country  led  to  precisely  the  same  rash  conclusions 
among  the  Conquerors. 

38  "  Llamavase  Casa   de  Escogidas;    porque   las  escogian,  6  por 
Linage,  6  por  Hermosura."     Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  4. 
cap.  i. 

»Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. — The  word  mamacona  signified 
"  matron  ;"  mama,  the  first  half  of  this  compound  word,  as  already 
noticed,  meaning  "  mother."  See  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  I, 
lib.  4,  cap.  i. 

10* 


m  CIVILIZATION  OF   THE    /AT.f.V. 

religious  duties.  They  were  employed  in  spinning  and 
embroidery,  and,  with  the  fine  hair  of  the  vicufia,  wove 
the  hangings  for  the  temples,  and  the  apparel  for  the 
Inca  and  his  household.40  It  was  their  duty,  above  all, 
to  watch  over  the  sacred  fire  obtained  at  the  festival  of 
Raymi.  From  the  moment  they  entered  the  establish- 
ment, they  were  cut  off  from  all  connection  with  the 
world,  even  with  their  own  family  and  friends.  No 
one  but  the  Inca,  and  the  Coya  or  queen,  might  enter 
the  consecrated  precincts.  The  greatest  attention  was 
paid  to  their  morals,  and  visitors  were  sent  every  year 
to  inspect  the  institutions  and  to  report  on  the  state 
of  their  discipline.4'  Woe  to  the  unhappy  maiden  who 
was  detected  in  an  intrigue  !  By  the  stern  law  of  the 
Incas,  she  was  to  be  buried  alive,  her  lover  was  to  be 
strangled,  and  the  town  or  village  to  which  he  be- 
longed was  to  be  razed  to  the  ground,  and  "sowed 
with  stones,"  as  if  to  efface  every  memorial  of  his  ex- 
istence.43 One  is  astonished  to  find  so  close  a  resem- 

4°  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 

4'  Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS. 

42  Balboa,  Hist,  du  Perou,  chap.  9.— Fernandez,  Hist,  del  Peru, 
Parte  a,  lib.  3,  cap.  n.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real..  Parte  i,  lib.  4,  cap. 
3- — According  to  the  historian  of  the  Incas,  the  terrible  penalty  was 
never  incurred  by  a  single  lapse  on  the  part  of  the  fair  sisterhood  ; 
though,  if  it  had  been,  the  sovereign,  he  assures  us,  would  have  "  ex- 
acted it  to  the  letter,  with  as  little  compunction  as  he  would  have 
drowned  a  puppy."  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  4,  cap.  3.)  Other 
writers  contend,  on  the  contrary,  that  these  Virgins  had  very  little 
claim  to  the  reputation  of  Vestals.  (See  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y 
Conq.,  MS.— Gomara,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  cap.  121.)  Such  imputations 
are  common  enough  on  the  inhabitants  of  religious  houses,  whether 
pagan  or  Christian.  They  are  contradicted  in  the  present  instance  by 
the  concurrent  testimony  of  most  of  those  who  had  the  best  oppor 


VIRGINS    OF    THE    SUN.  II5 

blance  between  the  institutions  of  the  American  Indian, 
the  ancient  Roman,  and  the  modern  Catholic  !  Chas- 
tity and  purity  of  life  are  virtues  in  woman  that  would 
seem  to  be  of  equal  estimation  with  the  barbarian 
and  with  the  civilized. — Yet  the  ultimate  destination 
of  the  inmates  of  these  religious  houses  was  materially 
different. 

The  great  establishment  at  Cuzco  consisted  wholly 
of  maidens  of  the  royal  blood,  who  amounted,  it  is 
said,  to  no  less  than  fifteen  hundred.  The  provincial 
convents  were  supplied  from  the  daughters  of  the  cu- 
racas  and  inferior  nobles,  and  occasionally,  where  a 
girl  was  recommended  by  great  personal  attractions, 
from  the  lower  classes  of  the  people.43  The  "  Houses 
of  the  Virgins  of  the  Sun"  consisted  of  low  ranges  of 
stone  buildings,  covering  a  large  extent  of  ground, 
surrounded  by  high  walls,  which  excluded  those  within 
entirely  from  observation.  They  were  provided  with 
every  accommodation  for  the  fair  inmates,  and  were 
embellished  in  the  same  sumptuous  and  costly  manner 
as  the  palaces  of  the  Incas,  and  the  temples;  for  they 
received  the  particular  care  of  the  government,  as  an 
important  part  of  the  religious  establishment.44 

Yet  the  career  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  these  cloisters 
was  not  confined  within  their  narrow  walls.  Though 
Virgins  of  the  Sun,  they  were  brides  of  the  Inca,  and 
at  a  marriageable  age  the  most  beautiful  among  them 

tunity  of  arriving  at  truth,  and  are  made  particularly  improbable  by 
the  superstitious  reverence  entertained  for  the  Incas. 

43  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq..  MS.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.. 
Pane  i,  lib.  4,  cap.  i. 

44  Ibid.,  Parte  i,  lib.  4,  cap.  5. — Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  44. 


Il6  CIVILIZATION  Of    THE    INCAS. 

were  selected  for  the  honors  of  his  bed  and  transferred 
to  the  royal  seraglio.  The  full  complement  of  this 
amounted  in  time  not  only  to  hundreds,  but  thousands, 
who  all  found  accommodations  in  his  different  palaces 
throughout  the  country.  When  the  monarch  was  dis- 
posed to  lessen  the  number  of  his  establishment,  the 
concubine  with  whose  society  he  was  willing  to  dis- 
pense returned,  not  to  her  former  monastic  residence, 
but  to  her  own  home ;  where,  however  humble  might 
be  her  original  condition,  she  was  maintained  in  great 
state,  and,  far  from  being  dishonored  by  the  situation 
she  had  filled,  was  held  in  universal  reverence  as  the 
Inca's  bride.45  _V 

The  great  nobles  of  Peru  were  allowed,  like  their 
sovereign,  a  plurality  of  wives.  The  people,  generally, 
whether  by  law,  or  by  necessity  stronger  than  law,  were 
more  happily  limited  to  one.  Marriage  was  conducted 
in  a  manner  that  gave  it  quite  as  original  a  character 
as  belonged  to  the  other  institutions  of  the  country. 
On  an  appointed  day  of  the  year,  all  those  of  a  mar- 
riageable age — which,  having  reference  to  their  ability 
to  take  charge  of  a  family,  in  the  males  was  fixed  at 
not  less  than  twenty-four  years,  and  in  the  women  at 
eighteen  or  twenty — were  called  together  in  the  great 
squares  of  their  respective  towns  and  villages,  through- 
out the  empire.  The  Inca  presided  in  person  over  the 
assembly  of  his  own  kindred,  and,  taking  the  hands  of 
the  different  couples  who  were  to  be  united,  he  placed 
them  within  each  other,  declaring  the  parties  man  and 
wife.  The  same  was  done  by  the  curacas  towards  all 

«  Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i, 
lib.  4,  cap.  4.— Montesinos,  Mem.  antiguas,  MS.,  lib.  2,  cap.  19. 


MARRIAGE.  JI7 

persons  of  their  own  or  inferior  degree  in  their  several 
districts.  This  was  the  simple  form  of  marriage  in 
Peru.  No  one  was  allowed  to  select  a  wife  beyond  the 
community  to  which  he  belonged,  which  generally 
comprehended  all  his  own  kindred  ; 46  nor  was  any  but 
the  sovereign  authorized  to  dispense  with  the  law  of 
nature — or,  at  least,  the  usual  law  of  nations — so  far  as 
to  marry  his  own  sister.47  No  marriage  was  esteemed 
valid  without  the  consent  of  the  parents ;  and  the  pref- 
erence of  the  parties,  it  is  said,  was  also  to  be  con- 
sulted ;  though,  considering  the  barriers  imposed  by 
the  prescribed  age  of  the  candidates,  this  must  have 
been  within  rather  narrow  and  whimsical  limits.  A 
dwelling  was  got  ready  for  the  new-married  pair  at  the 
charge  of  the  district,  and  the  prescribed  portion  of 
land  assigned  for  their  maintenance.  The  law  of  Peru 
provided  for  the  future,  as  well  as  for  the  present.  It 
left  nothing  to  chance.  The  simple  ceremony  of  mar- 
riage was  followed  by  general  festivities  among  the 
friends  of  the  parties,  which  lasted  several  days ;  and 
as  every  wedding  took  place  on  the  same  day,  and  as 
there  were  few  families  who  had  not  some  one  of  their 
members  or  their  kindred  personally  interested,  there 

«*  By  the  strict  letter  of  the  law,  according  to  Garcilasso,  no  one 
was  to  marry  out  of  his  own  lineage.  But  this  narrow  rule  had  a  most 
liberal  interpretation,  since  all  of  the  same  town,  and  even  province, 
he  assures  us,  were  reckoned  of  kin  to  one  another.  Com.  Real., 
Parte  i,  lib.  4,  cap.  8. 

47  Fernandez,  Hist,  del  Peru.  Parte  2.  lib.  3,  cap.  9. — This  practice, 
so  revolting  to  our  feelings  that  it  might  well  be  deemed  to  violate  the 
law  of  nature,  must  not,  however,  be  regarded  as  altogether  peculiai 
to  the  Incas,  since  it  was  countenanced  by  some  of  the  most  polished 
nations  of  antiquity. 


ri8  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

was  one  universal  bridal   jubilee  throughout  the  em- 
pire.48 

The  extraordinary  regulations  respecting  marriage 
under  the  Incas  are  eminently  characteristic  of  the 
genius  of  the  government ;  which,  far  from  limiting 
itself  to  matters  of  public  concern,  penetrated  into  the 
most  private  recesses  of  domestic  life,  allowing  no  man, 
however  humble,  to  act  for  himself,  even  in  those  per- 
sonal matters  in  which  none  but  himself,  or  his  family 
at  most,  might  be  supposed  to  be  interested.  No 
Peruvian  was  too  low  for  the  fostering  vigilance  of 
government.  None  was  so  high  that  he  was  not  made 
to  feel  his  dependence  upon  it  in  every  act  of  his  life. 
His  very  existence  as  an  individual  was  absorbed  in 
that  of  the  community.  His  hopes  and  his  fears,  his 
joys  and  his  sorrows,  the  tenderest  sympathies  of  his 
nature,  which  would  most  naturally  shrink  from  ob- 
servation, were  all  to  be  regulated  by  law.  He  was 
not  allowed  even  to  be  happy  in  his  own  way.  The 
government  of  the  Incas  was  the  mildest,  but  the  most 
searching,  of  despotisms. 

4s  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib. 
6,  cap.  36. — Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS. — Montesinos,  Mem.  antiguas, 
MS.,  lib.  2,  cap.  6. 


[The  precise  nature  of  the  Peruvian  religion  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  much  elucidated  by  the  discussions  it  has  undergone  in  recent 
years.  The  chief  source  of  perplexity  lies  in  the  recognition  of  a 
Creator,  or  World-Deity,  side  by  side  with  the  adoration  of  the  Sun 
as  the  presiding  divinity  and  direct  object  of  worship.  Mr.  Tylor 
speaks  of  this  as  a  "  rivalry  full  of  interest  in  the  history  of  barbaric 
religion  ;"  and  he  takes  the  view  that  the  Sun,  originally  "  a  subordi- 
nate God,"  "  the  divine  ancestor  of  the  Inca  family,"  "  by  virtue  of 
his  nearer  intercourse  and  power,"  gradually  "  usurped  the  place  of 


PERUVIAN  MYTHOLOGY.  119 

the  Supreme  Deity."  (Conf.  Primitive  Culture,  ist  edition,  vol.  ii.  p. 
307,  and  ad  edition,  vol.  ii.  p.  338.)  But  the  facts  cited  in  support  of 
this  theory  are  too  slight  or  too  questionable  to  form  a  sufficient  basis  for 
it.  The  reported  speech  of  one  of  the  later  Incas,  in  which  the  doc- 
trine that  the  Sun  is  "  the  maker  of  all  things."  or  himself  "  a  living 
thing,"  is  condemned,  and  he  is  compared  to  "  a  beast  who  makes  a 
daily  round  under  the  eye  of  a  master,"  "  an  arrow  which  must  go 
whither  it  is  sent,  not  whither  it  wishes,"  may  be  regarded  as,  what 
Mr.  Tylor  indeed  calls  it,  "  a  philosophic  protest,"  and  as  nothing  more. 
The  forms  of  prayer  collected  by  Molina  from  the  lips  of  certain  aged 
Indians,  addressed  conjointly  to  the  Creator,  the  Sun.  and  the  Thun- 
der, prove,  if  any  thing,  that  the  supremacy  of  the  first-mentioned 
person  in  this  singular  trinity  was  an  article  of  that  "  state  church" 
which,  according  to  Mr.  Tylor,  organized  the  worship  of  the  Sun  and 
raised  it  to  predominance.  As  to  the  statement,  on  Mr.  Markham's 
authority,  that  the  great  temple  at  Cuzco  was  originally  dedicated  to 
Pachacamac,  this  seems  to  rest  merely  on  a  tradition  related  by  Mo- 
lina, which  attributes  the  enlargement  of  the  temple  and  the  erection 
of  a  golden  statue  to  the  Creator  to  the  same  Inca  who  is  represented 
as  having  denied  the  divinity  of  the  Sun.  In  fact,  the  whole  of  this 
evidence  better  accords  with  the  view  taken  by  M.  Desjardins,  who 
considers  the  Inca  referred  to — Yupanqui  according  to  most  authori- 
ties— as  having  introduced  the  worship  of  Pachacamac  at  Cuzco, 
where  before  the  Sun  had  been  worshipped  as  the  Supreme  God. 
(Le  Perou  avant  la  Conquete  espagnole,  p.  94.)  "  But  these  notions." 
he  remarks,  "of  an  immaterial,  infinite,  and  eternal  God  could  not 
easily  penetrate  the  minds  of  the  multitude,  who  adhered  to  their 
ancient  superstitions."  (Ibid.,  p.  103.)  That  the  complex  character  of 
the  Peruvian  mythology  proceeded  chiefly  from  the  union  under  one 
government  of  several  different  races,  and  the  tolerance,  and  to  some 
extent  the  adoption,  by  the  conquerors  of  various  local  or  tribal  re- 
ligions, is  a  point  on  which  all  who  have  given  the  subject  any  close 
investigation  concur.  (See  Brinton,  Myths  of  the  New  World,  p.  176. 
et  al.)  Hence  the  variety  and  conflicting  character  of  the  traditions, 
which  cannot  be  constructed  into  a  system,  since  they  represent  diverse 
and  perhaps  fluctuating  conceptions. — ED.] 


CHAPTER    IV. 

EDUCATION. —  QUIPUS.  —  ASTRONOMY. — AGRICULTURE.— 
AQUEDUCTS. — GUANO. — IMPORTANT    ESCULENTS. 

"  SCIENCE  was  not  intended  for  the  people ;  but  for 
those  of  generous  blood.  Persons  of  low  degree  are 
only  puffed  up  by  it,  and  rendered  vain  and  arrogant. 
Neither  should  such  meddle  with  the  affairs  of  govern- 
ment ;  for  this  would  bring  high  offices  into  disrepute, 
and  cause  detriment  to  the  state."'  Such  was  the 
favorite  maxim,  often  repeated,  of  Tupac  Inca  Yupan- 
qui,  one  of  the  most  renewed  of  the  Peruvian  sove- 
reigns. It  may  seem  strange  that  such  a  maxim  should 
ever  have  been  proclaimed  in  the  New  World,  where 
popular  institutions  have  been  established  on  a  more 
extensive  scale  than  was  ever  before  witnessed  ;  where 
government  rests  wholly  on  the  people,  and  education 
— at  least,  in  the  great  northern  division  of  the  conti- 
nent— is  mainly  directed  to  qualify  the  people  for  the 
duties  of  government.  Yet  this  maxim  was  strictly- 
conformable  to  the  genius  of  the  Peruvian  monarchy, 
and  may  serve  as  a  key  to  its  habitual  policy ;  since, 

1  "  No  es  licito,  que  ensenen  a  los  hijos  de  los  Plebeios,  las  Ciencias, 
que  pertenescen  a  los  Generosos,  y  no  mas ;  porque  como  Gente  baja, 
no  se  eleven,  y  ensobervezcan,  y  menoscaben,  y  apoquen  la  Repub- 
lica :  bastales,  que  aprendan  los  Oficios  de  sus  Padres ;  que  el  Man- 
dar,  y  Governar  no  es  de  Plebeios,  que  es  hacer  agravio  al  Oficio,  y 
a  la  Republica,  encomendarsela  a  Gente  comun."  Garcilasso,  Com. 
Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  8,  cap.  8. 
(MO) 


EDIT  A  no. \:  121 

while  it  watched  with  unwearied  solicitude  over  its 
subjects,  provided  for  their  physical  necessities,  was 
mindful  of  their  morals,  and  showed,  throughout,  the 
affectionate  concern  of  a  parent  for  his  children,  it  yet 
regarded  them  only  as  children,  who  were  never  to 
emerge  from  the  state  of  pupilage,  to  act  or  to  think 
for  themselves,  but  whose  whole  duty  was  comprehended 
in  the  obligation  of  implicit  obedience. 

Such  was  the  humiliating  condition  of  the  people 
under  the  Incas,  while  the  numerous  families  of  the 
blood  royal  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  all  the  light  of 
education  which  the  civilization  of  the  country  could 
afford,  and  long  after  the  Conquest  the  spots  continued 
to  be  pointed  out  where  the  seminaries  had  existed  for 
their  instruction.  These  were  placed  under  the  care 
of  the  await/as,  or  "wise  men,"  who  engrossed  the 
scanty  stock  of  science — if  science  it  could  be  called 
— possessed  by  the  Peruvians,  and  who  were  the  sole 
teachers  of  youth.  It  was  natural  that  the  monarch 
should  take  a  lively  interest  in  the  instruction  of  the 
young  nobility,  his  own  kindred.  Several  of  the  Pe- 
ruvian princes  are  said  to  have  built  their  palaces  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  schools,  in  order  that  they 
might  the  more  easily  visit  them  and  listen  to  the  lec- 
tures of  the  amautas,  which  they  occasionally  re-enforced 
by  a  homily  of  their  own.2  In  these  schools  the  royal 
pupils  were  instructed  in  all  the  different  kinds  of 
knowledge  in  which  their  teachers  were  versed,  with 

"Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  7,  cap.  10. — The  descendant 
of  the  Incas  notices  the  remains,  visible  in  his  day,  of  two  of  the 
palaces  of  his  royal  ancestors,  which  had  been  built  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  schools,  for  more  easy  access  to  them. 
Peru.— VOL.  I.— F  il 


i22  CIVILIZATION  or  mi:   /.vr./.v. 

especial  reference  to  the  stations  they  were  to  occupy 
in  after-life.  They  studied  the  laws,  and  the  principles 
of  administering  the  government,  in  which  many  of 
them  were  to  take  part.  They  were  initiated  in  the 
peculiar  rites  of  their  religion  most  necessary  to  those 
who  were  to  assume  the  sacerdotal  functions.  They 
learned  also  to  emulate  the  achievements  of  their  royal 
ancestors  by  listening  to  the  chronicles  compiled  by 
the  amautas.  They  were  taught  to  speak  their  own 
dialect  with  purity  and  elegance  ;  and  they  became 
acquainted  with  the  mysterious  science  of  the  quipus, 
which  supplied  the  Peruvians  with  the  means  of  com- 
municating their  ideas  to  one  another,  and  of  trans- 
mitting them  to  future  generations.3 

The  quipu  was  a  cord  about  two  feet  long,  composed 
iif  different-colored  threads  tightly  twisted  together, 
from  which  a  quantity  of  smaller  threads  were  sus- 
pended in  the  manner  of  a  fringe.  The  threads  were 
of  different  colors,  and  were  tied  into  knots.  The 
word  quipu,  indeed,  signifies  a  knot.  The  colors 
denoted  sensible  objects ;  as,  for  instance,  white  repre- 
sented silver,  and  yellow,  gold.  They  sometimes  also 
stood  for  abstract  ideas.  Thus,  white  signified  peace, 
and  red,  war.  But  the  quipus  were  chiefly  used  for 
arithmetical  purposes.  The  knots  served  instead  of 
ciphers,  and  could  be  combined  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  represent  numbers  to  any  amount  they  required. 
By  means  of  these  they  went  through  their  calculations 
with  great  rapidity,  and  the  Spaniards  who  first  visited 
the  country  bear  testimony  to  their  accuracy.4 

sGarcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  4,  cap.  19. 

4Conquista    i    Poblacion    del    Piru,    MS.— Sarmiento,    Relacion, 


QU/PUS.  123 

Officers  were  established  in  each  of  the  districts, 
who,  under  the  title  of  </K/f>uca;nayus,  or  "keepers  of 
the  quipus,"  were  required  to  furnish  the  government 
with  information  on  various  important  matters.  One 
had  charge  of  the  revenues,  reported  the  quantity  of 
raw  material  distributed  among  the  laborers,  the  quality 
and  quantity  of  the  fabrics  made  from  it,  and  the 
amount  of  stores,  of  various  kinds,  paid  into  the  royal 
magazines.  Another  exhibited  the  register  of  births 
and  deaths,  the  marriages,  the  number  of  those  quali- 
fied to  bear  arms,  and  the  like  details  in  reference  to 
the  population  of  the  kingdom.  These  returns  were 
annually  forwarded  to  the  capital,  where  they  were 
submitted  to  the  inspection  of  officers  acquainted  with 
the  art  of  deciphering  these  mystic  records.  The 
government  was  thus  provided  with  a  valuable  mass  of 
statistical  information,  and  the  skeins  of  many-colored 
threads,  collected  and  carefully  preserved,  constituted 
what  might  be  called  the  national  archives.5 

But,  although  the  quipus  sufficed  for  all   the  pur- 

MS.,  cap.  9. — Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  8. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i, 
lib.  6,  cap.  8. 

5  Ondegardo  expresses  his  astonishment  at  the  variety  of  objects 
embraced  by  these  simple  records,  "  hardly  credible  by  one  who  had 
not  seen  them."  "  En  aquella  ciudad  se  hallaron  muchos  viejos  oficiales 
antiguos  del  Inga,  asi  de  la  religion,  como  del  Govierno,  y  otra  cosa 
que  no  pudiera  creer  sino  la  viera,  que  por  hilos  y  nudos  se  hallan  figu- 
nidas  las  leyes.  y  estatutos  asi  de  lo  uno  como  de  lo  otro,  y  las  suce- 
siones  de  los  Reyes  y  tiempo  que  govemaron :  y  hallose  lo  que  todo 
esto  tenian  asu  cargo  que  no  fue  poco,  y  aun  tube  alguna  claridad  de  los 
estatutos  que  en  tiempo  de  cada  uno  se  havian  puesto."  (Rel.  Prim.. 
MS.)  (See  also  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  9, — Acosta.  lib.  6, 
cap.  8. — Garcilasso,  Parte  i.  lib.  6,  cap.  8, 9.)  A  vestige  of  the  quipus 
is  still  to  be  found  in  some  parts  of  Peru,  where  the  shepherds  keep  the 
tallies  of  their  numerous  flocks  bv  means  of  this  ancient  arithmetic. 


124  CIVILIZATION  OI-    THE    L\CAS. 

poses  of  arithmetical  computation  demanded  by  the 
Peruvians,  they  were  incompetent  to  represent  the 
manifold  ideas  and  images  which  are  expressed  by 
writing.  Even  here,  however,  the  invention  was  not 
without  its  use.  For,  independently  of  the  direct  rep- 
resentation of  simple  objects,  and  even  of  abstract 
ideas,  to  a  very  limited  extent,  as  above  noticed,  it 
afforded  great  help  to  the  memory  by  way  of  associa- 
tion. The  peculiar  knot  or  color,  in  this  way,  suggested 
what  it  could  not  venture  to  represent ;  in  the  same  man- 
ner— to  borrow  the  homely  illustration  of  an  old  writer 
— as  the  number  of  the  Commandment  calls  to  mind 
the  Commandment  itself.  The  quipus,  thus  used,  might 
be  regarded  as  the  Peruvian  system  of  mnemonics. 

Annalists  were  appointed  in  each  of  the  principal 
communities,  whose  business  it  was  to  record  the  most 
important  events  which  occurred  in  them.  Other 
functionaries  of  a  higher  character,  usually  the  amau- 
tas,  were  intrusted  with  the  history  of  the  empire,  and 
were  selected  to  chronicle  the  great  deeds  of  the  reign- 
ing Inca,  or  of  his  ancestors.6  The  narrative,  thus 
concocted,  could  be  communicated  only  by  oral  tra- 
dition ;  but  the  quipus  served  the  chronicler  to  arrange 
the  incidents  with  method  and  to  refesh  his' memory. 
The  story,  once  treasured  up  in  the  mind,  was  indelibly 
impressed  there  by  frequent  repetition.  It  was  repeated 
by  the  amauta  to  his  pupils,  and  in  this  way  history, 
conveyed  partly  by  oral  tradition  and  partly  by  arbi- 
trary signs,  was  handed  down  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration, with  sufficient  discrepancy  of  details,  but  with 
a  general  -conformity  of  outline  to  the  truth. 
6  Garcilasso,  ubi  supra. 


QUIPUS.  1 25 

The  Peruvian  quipus  were,  doubtless,  a  wretched 
substitute  for  that  beautiful  contrivance,  the  alphabet, 
which,  employing  a  few  simple  characters  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  sounds  instead  of  ideas,  is  able  to  convey 
the  most  delicate  shades  of  thought  that  ever  passed 
through  the  mind  of  man.  The  Peruvian  invention, 
indeed,  was  far  below  that  of  the  hieroglyphics,  even 
below  the  rude  picture-writing  of  the  Aztecs;  for  the 
latter  art,  however  incompetent  to  convey  abstract 
ideas,  could  depict  sensible  objects  with  tolerable  accu- 
racy. It  is  an  evidence  of  the  total  ignorance  in  which 
the  two  nations  remained  of  each  other,  that  the  Peru- 
vians should  have  borrowed  nothing  of  the  hieroglyph- 
ical  system  of  the  Mexicans,  and  this,  notwithstanding 
that  the  existence  of  the  maguey-plant,  agave,  in  South 
America  might  have  furnished  them  with  the  very 
material  used  by  the  Aztecs  for  the  construction  of 
their  maps.7 

It  is  impossible  to  contemplate  without  interest  the 
struggles  made  by  different  nations,  as  they  emerge 
from  barbarism,  to  supply  themselves  with  some  visible 
symbol  of  thought, — that  mysterious  agency  by  which 
the  mind  of  the  individual  may  be  put  in  communi- 
cation with  the  minds  of  a  whole  community.  The 
want  of  such  a  symbol  is  itself  the  greatest  impediment 
to  the  progress  of  civilization.  For  what  is  it  but  to 
imprison  the  thought,  which  has  the  elements  of  im- 

7  Garcilasso,  ubi  supra. — Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS. — Sarmiento. 
Relacion.  MS.,  cap.  9. — Yet  the  quipus  must  be  allowed  to  bear  some 
resemblance  to  the  belts  of  wampum — made  of  colored  beads  strung 
together — in  familiar  use  among  the  North  American  tribes  for  com- 
memorating treaties,  and  for  other  purposes. 
II* 


I26  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 

mortality,  within  the  bosom  of  its  author,  or  of  the 
small  circle  who  come  in  contact  with  him,  instead  of 
sending  it  abroad  to  give  light  to  thousands  and  to 
generations  yet  unborn  !  Not  only  is  such  a  symbol 
an  essential  element  of  civilization,  but  it  may  be  as- 
sumed as  the  very  criterion  of  civilization ;  for  the 
intellectual  advancement  of  a  people  will  keep  pace 
pretty  nearly  with  its  facilities  for  intellectual  com- 
munication. 

Yet  we  must  be  careful  not  to  underrate  the  real 
value  of  the  Peruvian  system,  nor  to  suppose  that  the 
quipus  were  as  awkward  an  instrument  in  the  hand  of 
a  practised  native  as  they  would  be  in  ours.  We  know 
the  effect  of  habit  in  all  mechanical  operations,  and 
the  Spaniards  bear  constant  testimony  to  the  adroitness 
and  accuracy  of  the  Peruvians  in  this.  Their  skill  is 
not  more  surprising  than  the  facility  with  which  habit 
enables  us  to  master  the  contents  of  a  printed  page, 
comprehending  thousands  of  separate  characters,  by  a 
single  glance,  as  it  were,  though  each  character  must 
require  a  distinct  recognition  by  the  eye,  and  that,  too, 
without  breaking  the  chain  of  thought  in  the  reader's 
mind.  We  must  not  hold  the  invention  of  the  quipus 
too  lightly,  when  we  reflect  that  they  supplied  the 
means  of  calculation  demanded  for  the  affairs  of  a  great 
nation,  and  that,  however  insufficient,  they  afforded 
no  little  help  to  what  aspired  to  the  credit  of  literary 
composition. 

The  office  of  recording  the  national  annals  was  not 
wholly  confined  to  the  amautas.  It  was  assumed  in 
part  by  the  haravecs,  or  poets,  who  selected  the  most 
brilliant  incidents  for  their  songs  or  ballads,  which 


QUiPUS.'  127 

were  chanted  at  the  royal  festivals  and  at  the  table  of 
the  Inca.8  In  this  manner  a  body  of  traditional  min- 
strelsy grew  up,  like  the  British  and  Spanish  ballad 
poetry,  by  means  of  which  the  name  of  many  a  rude 
chieftain,  that  might  have  perished  for  want  of  a  chron- 
icler, has  been  borne  down  the  tide  of  rustic  melody 
to  later  generations. 

Yet  history  may  be  thought  not  to  gain  much  by  this 
alliance  with  poetry  ;  for  the  domain  of  the  poet  extends 
over  an  ideal  realm  peopled  with  the  shadowy  forms  of 
fancy,  that  bear  little  resemblance  to  the  rude  realities 
of  life.  The  Peruvian  annals  may  be  deemed  to  show 
somewhat  of  the  effects  of  this  union,  since  there  is  a 
tinge  of  the  marvellous  spread  over  them  down  to  the 
very  latest  period,  which,  like  a  mist  before  the  reader's 
eye,  makes  it  difficult  to  distinguish  between  fact  and 
fiction. 

The  poet  found  a  convenient  instrument  for  his 
purposes  in  the  beautiful  Quichua  dialect.  We  have 
already  seen  the  extraordinary  measures  taken  by  the 
Incas  for  propagating  their  language  throughout  their 
empire.  Thus  naturalized  in  the  remotest  provinces, 
it  became  enriched  by  a  variety  of  exotic  words  and 
idioms,  which,  under  the  influence  of  the  court  and  of 
poetic  culture,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  was  gradually 
blended,  like  some  finished  mosaic  made  up  of  coarse 
and  disjointed  materials,  into  one  harmonious  whole. 

8  Dec.  de  la  Aud.  Real.,  MS.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i.  lib. 
2,  cap.  27. — The  word  haravec  signified  "  inventor"  or  "  finder ;"  and 
in  his  title,  as  well  as  in  his  functions,  the  minstrel-poet  may  remind 
us  of  the  Norman  trouvere.  Garcilasso  has  translated  one  of  the 
little  lyrical  pieces  of  his  countrymen.  It  is  light  and  lively  ;  but  on« 
short  specimen  affords  no  basis  for  general  criticism. 


128  CIVILIZATION   Ol-     THE    /.\V,/.S. 

The  Quichua  became  the  most  comprehensive  and  vari- 
ious,  as  well  as  the  most  elegant,  of  the  South  American 
dialects.9 

Besides  the  compositions  already  noticed,  the  Peru- 
vians, it  is  said,  showed  some  talent  for  theatrical  exhi- 
bitions ;  not  those  barren  pantomimes  which,  addressed 
simply  to  the  eye,  have  formed  the  amusement  of  more 
than  one  rude  nation.  The  Peruvian  pieces  aspired  to 
the  rank  of  dramatic  compositions,  sustained  by  char- 
acter and  dialogue,  founded  sometimes  on  themes  of 
tragic  interest,  and  at  others  on  such  as,  from  their 
light  and  social  character,  belong  to  comedy.10  Of  the 
execution  of  these  pieces  we  have  now  no  means  of 
judging.*  It  was  probably  rude  enough,  as  befitted  an 
'Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. — Sarmiento  justly  laments  that  his 
countrymen  should  have  suffered  this  dialect,  which  might  have  proved 
so  serviceable  in  their  intercourse  with  the  motley  tribes  of  the  empire, 
to  fall  so  much  out  of  use  as  it  has  done  :  "  Y  con  tanto  digo  que  fue 
harto  beneficio  para  los  Espanoles  haver  esta  lengua,  pues  podian  con 
ella  andar  por  todas  partes  en  algunas  de  las  quales  ya  se  va  perdi- 
endo."  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  21. — According  to  Velascb,  the  Incas.on 
arriving  with  their  conquering  legions  at  Quito,  were  astonished  to  find 
a  dialect  of  the  Quichua  spoken  there,  although  it  was  unknown  over 
much  of  the  intermediate  country  ;  a  singular  fact,  if  true.  (Hist,  de 
Quito,  torn.  i.  p.  185.)  The  author,  a  native  of  that  country,  had 
access  to  some  rare  sources  of  information  ;  and  his  curious  volumes 
show  an  intimate  analogy  between  the  science  and  social  institutions 
of  the  people  of  Quito  and  Peru.  Yet  his  book  betrays  an  obvious 
anxiety  to  set  the  pretensions  of  his  own  country  in  the  most  imposing 
point  of  view,  and  he  frequently  hazards  assertions  with  a  confidence 
that  is  not  well  calculated  to  secure  that  of  his  readers. 

IOGarcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  ubi  supra. 


*  [Dr.  Vincente  Lopez  speaks  of  two  specimens  of  this  dramatic 
literature,  preserved,  in  an  altered  form,  by  Spanish  tradition.— the 
Apu-Ollantay  and  the  Uska-Paukar.  The  latter,  he  says,  contains 


JSTKOXOMY. 


I29 


unformed  people.  But,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
execution,  the  mere  conception  of  such  an  amusement 
is  a  proof  of  refinement  that  honorably  distinguishes 
the  Peruvian  from  the  other  American  races,  whose 
pastime  was  war,  or  the  ferocious  sports  that  reflect  the 
image  of  it. 

The  intellectual  character  of  the  Peruvians,  indeed, 
seems  to  have  been  marked  rather  by  a  tendency  to 
refinement  than  by  those  hardier  qualities  which  insure 
success  in  the  severer  walks  of  science.  In  these  they 
were  behind  several  of  the  semi-civilized  nations  of 
the  New  World.  They  had  some  acquaintance  with 
geography,  so  far  as  related  to  their  own  empire,  which 
was  indeed  extensive ;  and  they  constructed  maps  with 
lines  raised  on  them  to  denote  the  boundaries  and  lo- 
calities, on  a  similar  principle  with  those  formerly  used 
by  the  blind.  In  astronomy  they  appear  to  have  made 
but  moderate  proficiency.  They  divided  the  year  into 
twelve  lunar  months,  each  of  which,  having  its  own 
name,  was  distinguished  by  its  appropriate  festival." 
They  had,  also,  weeks,  but  of  what  length,  whether  of 
seven,  nine,  or  ten  days,  is  uncertain.  As  their  lunar 

"  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. — Fernandez,  who  differs  from  most 
authorities  in  dating  the  commencement  of  the  year  from  June,  gives 
the  names  of  the  several  months,  with  their  appropriate  occupations. 
Hist,  del  Peru,  Parte  2,  lib.  3,  cap.  10. 


entire  r6les  which  are  evidently  of  Spanish  and  Catholic  origin.  To 
the  former  he  is  inclined  to  ascribe  a  greater  degree  of  genuineness ; 
though  its  authenticity  has  been  altogether  denied,  and  its  composition 
ascribed  to  Dr.  Valdez.  (Les  Races  aryennes  du  Perou,  pp.  325- 
329.)  An  English  translation  of  it  has  been  published  by  Mr.  Mark- 
hnm,  uncfer  the  title  of  "  Ollanta,  rxn  Ancient  Ynca  Drama"  (London, 
1871).- ED.] 
F* 


,3o  CIVILIZATION  OF    Till:    TNCAS, 

year  would  necessarily  fall  short  of  the  true  time,  they 
rectified  their  calendar  by  solar  observations  made  by 
means  of  a  number  of  cylindrical  columns  raised  on  the 
high  lands  round  Cuzco,  which  served  them  for  taking 
azimuths;  and  by  measuring  their  shadows  they  ascer- 
tained the  exact  times  of  the  solstices.  The  period  of 
the  equinoxes  they  determined  by  the  help  of  a  solitary 
pillar,  or  gnomon,  placed  in  the  centre  of  a  circle, 
which  was  described  in  the  area  of  the  great  temple 
and  traversed  by  a  diameter  that  was  drawn  from  east 
to  west.  When  the  shadows  were  scarcely  visible  under 
the  noontide  rays  of  the  sun,  they  said  that  "  the  god 
sat  with  all  his  light  upon  the  column."  "  Quito, 
which  lay  immediately  under  the  equator,  where  the 
vertical  rays  of  the  sun  threw  no  shadow  at  noon,  was 
held  in  especial  veneration  as  the  favorite  abode  of  the 
great  deity.  The  period  of  the  equinoxes  was  cele- 
brated by  public  rejoicings.  The  pillar  was  crowned 
by  the  golden  chair  of  the  Sun,  and  both  then  and  at 
the  solstices  the  columns  were  hung  with  garlands,  and 
offerings  of  flowers  and  fruit  were  made,  while  high 
festival  was  kept  throughout  the  empire.  By  these  pe- 
riods the  Peruvians  regulated  their  religious  rites  and 
ceremonial  and  prescribed  the  nature  of  their  agricul- 
tural labors.  The  year  itself  took  its  departure  from 
the  date  of  the  winter  solstice.13 

"Garcilasso,  Com.  Real..  Parte  i,  lib.  2,  cap.  22-26.— The  Spanish 
conquerors  threw  down  these  pillars,  as  sa%'oring  of  idolatry  in  the 
Indians.  Which  of  the  two  were  best  entitled  to  the  name  of  bar- 
barians ? 

'3  Betanzos,  Nar.  de  los  Ingas,  MS.,  cap.  16.— Sarmiento.  Relacion, 
MS.,  cap.  23.— Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  3.— The  most  celebrated  gnomon 
in  Europe,  that  raised  on  the  dome  of  the  metropolitan  church  of 


./.SVA'O.Vr  >.!/}'.  I3j 

This  meagre  account  embraces  nearly  all  that  has 
come  down  to  us  of  Peruvian  astronomy.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  a  nation  which  had  proceeded  thus  far  in 
its  observations  should  have  gone  no  farther,  and  that, 
notwithstanding  its  general  advance  in  civilization,  it 
should  in  this  science  have  fallen  so  far  short  not  only 
of  the  Mexicans,  but  of  the  Muyscas,  inhabiting  the 
same  elevated  regions  of  the  great  southern  plateau 
with  themselves.  These  latter  regulated  their  calendar 
on  the  same  general  plan  of  cycles  and  periodical 
series  as  the  Aztecs,  approaching  yet  nearer  to  the  sys- 
tem pursued  by  the  people  of  Asia.14 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  the  Incas,  the 
boasted  children  of  the  Sun,  would  have  made  a  par- 
ticular study  of  the  phenomena  of  the  heavens  and 
have  constructed  a  calendar  on  principles  as  scientific 
as  that  of  their  semi-civilized  neighbors.  One  histo- 
rian, indeed,  assures  us  that  they  threw  their  years  into 
cycles  of  ten,  a  hundred,  and  a  thousand  years,  and 
that  by  these  cycles  they  regulated  their  chronology. 's 

Florence,  was  erected  by  the  famous  Toscanelli — for  the  purpose  of 
determining  the  solstices,  and  regulating  the  festivals  of  the  Churcn — 
about  the  year  1468  ;  perhaps  at  no  very  distant  date  from  that  of  the 
similar  astronomical  contrivance  of  the  American  Indian.  See  Tira- 
boschi,  HistoriadellaLetteraturaltaliana,  torn.  vi.  lib.  2,  cap.  2,  sec.  38. 

'*  A  tolerably  meagre  account — yet  as  full,  probably,  as  authorities 
could  warrant — of  this  interesting  people  has  been  given  by  Piedrahita. 
Bishop  of  Panama,  in  the  first  two  Books  of  his  Historia  general  de 
las  Conquistas  del  nuevo  Regno  de  Granada  ( Madrid,  1688). — M.  de 
Humboldt  was  fortunate  in  obtaining  a  MS.,  composed  by  a  Spanisn 
ecclesiastic  resident  in  Santa  Fe  de  Bogota,  in  relation  to  the  Muysca 
calendar,  of  which  the  Prussian  philosopher  has  given  a  large  and 
luminous  analysis.  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  244. 

'5  Montesinos,  Mem.  antiguas,  MS.,  lib.  2,  cap.  7. — "  Renovo  1m 


I32  CIVlLIZAtlOX   OF    THE    IXC  AS. 

But  this  assertion — not  improbable  in  itself — rests  on 
a  writer  but  little  gifted  with  the  spirit  of  criticism, 
and  is  counterbalanced  by  the  silence  of  every  higher 
and  earlier  authority,  as  well  as  by  the  absence  of  any 
monument,  like  those  found  among  other  American 
nations,  to  attest  the  existence  of  such  a  calendar. 
The  inferiority  of  the  Peruvians  may  be,  perhaps,  in 
part  explained  by  the  fact  of  their  priesthood  being 
drawn  exclusively  from  the  body  of  the  Incas,  a  privi- 
leged order  of  nobility,  who  had  no  need,  by  the  as- 
sumption of  superior  learning,  to  fence  themselves 
round  from  the  approaches  of  the  vulgar.  The  little 
true  science  possessed  by  the  Aztec  priest  supplied  him 
with  a  key  to  unlock  the  mysteries  of  the  heavens,  and 
the  false  system  of  astrology  which  he  built  upon  it 
gave  him  credit  as  a  being  who  had  something  of  di- 
vinity in  his  own  nature.  But  the  Inca  noble  was 
divine  by  birth.  The  illusory  study  of  astrology,  so 
captivating  to  the  unenlightened  mind,  engaged  no 
share  of  his  attention.  The  only  persons  in  Peru  who 
claimed  the  power  of  reading  the  mysterious  future 
were  the  diviners,  men  who,  combining  with  their 
pretensions  some  skill  in  the  healing  art,  resembled 
the  conjurers  found  among  many  of  the  Indian  tribes. 
But  the  office  was  held  in  little  repute,  except  among 
the  lower  classes,  and  was  abandoned  to  those  whose 


computation  de  los  tiempos,  que  se  iba  perdiendo.  y  se  contaron  en 
su  Reynado  los  anos  por  365  dias  y  seis  horas ;  &  los  anos  afiadio  de- 
cadas  de  diez  anos,  a  cada  diez  decadas  una  centuria  de  100  anos,  y  & 
cada  diez  centurias  una  capachoata  6  Jutiphuacan,  que  son  1000  anos, 
que  quiere  decir  el  grande  ano  del  Sol ;  asi  contaban  los  siglos  y  los 
tucesos  memorables  de  sus  Reyes."  Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 


ASTROA'OMY.  133 

ag?  and  infirmity  disqualified  them  for  the  real  business 
of  life.16 

The  Peruvians  had  knowledge  of  one  or  two  con- 
stellations, and  watched  the  motions  of  the  planet 
Venus,  to  which,  as  we  have  seen,  they  dedicated  al- 
tars. But  their  ignorance  of  the  first  principles  of 
astronomical  science  is  shown  by  their  ideas  of  eclipses, 
which  they  supposed  denoted  some  great  derangement 
of  the  planet ;  and  when  the  moon  labored  under  one 
of  these  mysterious  infirmities  they  sounded  their  in- 
struments, and  filled  the  air  with  shouts  and  lamenta- 
tions, to  rouse  her  from  her  lethargy.  Such  puerile 
conceits  as  these  form  a  striking  contrast  with  the  real 
knowledge  of  the  Mexicans,  as  displayed  in  their 
hieroglyphical  maps,  in  which  the  true  cause  of  this 
phenomenon  is  plainly  depicted.'7 

But,  if  less  successful  in  exploring  the  heavens,  the 
Incas  must  be  admitted  to  have  surpassed  every  other 
American  race  in  their  dominion  over  the  earth.  Hus- 
bandry was  pursued  by  them  on  principles  that  may  be- 
truly  called  scientific.  It  was  the  basis  of  their  polit- 
ical institutions.  Having  no  foreign  commerce,  it  was 
agriculture  that  furnished  them  with  the  means  of  their 
internal  exchanges,  their  subsistence,  and  their  reve- 
nues. We  have  seen  their  remarkable  provisions  for 

16  "  Ansi  mismo  les  hicieron  senalar  gente  para  hechizeros  que  tam- 
bien  es  entre  ellos,  oficio  publico  y  conoscido  en  todos,  .  .  .  los  dipu- 
tados  para  ello  no  lo  tenian  por  travajo,  por  que  ninguno  podia  tener 
semejante  oficio  como  los  dichos  sino  fuesen  viejos  e  viejas,  y  personas 
inaviles  para  travajar,  como  mancos,  cojos  6  contrechos,  y  gente  asi  a 
quien  faltava  las  fuerzas  para  ello."  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 

'7  See  Codex  Tel.-Remensis.  Part  4,  PI.  22,  ap.  Antiquities  of  Mex- 
ico, vol.  i.,  London,  1829. 

Peru.— VOL.  I.  17 


1 34  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

distributing  the  land  in  equal  shares  among  the  people, 
while  they  required  every  man,  except  the  privileged 
orders,  to  assist  in  its  cultivation.  The  Inca  himself 
did  not  disdain  to  set  the  example.  On  one  of  the 
great  annual  festivals  he  proceeded  to  the  environs 
of  Cuzco,  attended  by  his  court,  and,  in  the  presence 
of  all  the  people,  turned  up  the  earth  with  a  golden 
plough, — or  an  instrument  that  served  as  such, — thus 
consecrating  the  occupation  of  the  husbandman  as  one 
worthy  to  be  followed  by  the  Children  of  the  Sun.18 

The  patronage  of  the  government  did  not  stop  with 
this  cheap  display  of  royal  condescension,  but  was 
shown  in  the  most  efficient  measures  for  facilitating 
the  labors  of  the  husbandman.  Much  of  the  country 
along  the  sea-coast  suffered  from  want  of  water,  as  little 
or  no  rain  fell  there,  and  the  few  streams,  in  their  short 
and  hurried  course  from  the  mountains,  exerted  only  a 
very  limited  influence  on  the  wide  extent  of  territory. 
The  soil,  it  is  true,  was  for  the  most  part  sandy  and 
sterile ;  but  many  places  were  capable  of  being  re- 
claimed, and,  indeed,  needed  only  to  be  properly  irri- 
gated to  be  susceptible  of  extraordinary  production. 
To  these  spots  water  was  conveyed  by  means  of  canals 
and  subterraneous  aqueducts  executed  on  a  noble  scale. 

18  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  16.— The  tables,  also,  it  seems, 
at  this  high  festival,  imitated  the  example  of  their  master.  "  Pasadas 
todas  las  fiestas,  en  la  ultima  llevavan  muchos  arados  de  manos,  los 
quales  antiguamente  heran  de  oro ;  i  echos  los  oficios,  tomava  el  Jnga 
un  arado  i  comenzava  con  el  a  romper  la  tierra,  i  lo  mismo  los  demas 
senores,  para  que  de  alii  adelante  en  todo  su  senorio  hiciesen  lo  mismo. 
i  sin  que  el  Inga  hiciese  esto  no  avia  Indio  que  osase  romper  la  tierra, 
ni  pensavan  que  produjese  si  el  Inga  no  la  rompia  pritnero  i  esto  vastc 
quanto  a  las  fiestas/'  Conq.  i  Pob.  del  Piru,  MS. 


AQUEDUCTS.  135 

They  consisted  of  large  slabs  of  freestone  nicely  fitted 
together  without  cement,  and  discharged  a  volume  of 
water  sufficient,  by  means  of  latent  ducts  or  sluices,  to 
moisten  the  lands  in  the  lower  level,  through  which 
they  passed.  Some  of  these  aqueducts  were  of  great 
length.  One  that  traversed  the  district  of  Condesuyu 
measured  between  four  and  five  hundred  miles.  They 
were  brought  from  some  elevated  lake  or  natural  reser- 
voir in  the  heart  of  the  mountains,  and  were  fed  at 
intervals  by  other  basins  which  lay  in  their  route  along 
the  slopes  of  the  sierra.  In  this  descent  a  passage  was 
sometimes  to  be  opened  through  rocks, — and  this  with- 
out the  aid  of  iron  tools  ;  impracticable  mountains  were 
to  be  turned,  rivers  and  marshes  to  be  crossed  ;  in  short, 
the  same  obstacles  were  to  be  encountered  as  in  the 
construction  of  their  mighty  roads.  But  the  Peruvians 
seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  wrestling  with  the  difficulties 
of  nature.  Near  Caxamarca  a  tunnel  is  still  visible 
which  they  excavated  in  the  mountains  to  give  an  outlet 
to  the  waters  of  a  lake  when  these  rose  to  a  height  in 
the  rainy  seasons  that  threatened  the  country  with 
inundation.'9 

Most  of  these  beneficent  works  of  the  Incas  were 
suffered  to  go  to  decay  by  their  Spanish  conquerors. 

»»  Sarmiento,  Kelacion,  MS.,  cap.  21. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.. 
Parte  i.  lib.  5,  cap.  24. — Stevenson,  Narrative  of  a  Twenty  Years' 
Residence  in  South  America  (London,  1829),  vol.  i.  p.  412;  ii.  pp. 
173,  174. — "  Sacauan  acequias  en  cabos  y  por  partes  que  es  cosa 
estrana  afirmar  lo :  porque  las  echauan  por  lugares  altos  y  baxos :  y 
por  laderas  de  los  cabe9os  y  haldas  de  sierras  JJ  estan  en  los  valles :  y 
por  ellos  mismos  atrauiessan  muchas  :  unas  por  una  parte,  y  otras  por 
otra,  que  es  gran  delectacio  caminar  por  aquellos  valles :  porque 
parece  que  se  anda  entre  huertas  y  florestas  llenas  de  frescuras." 
Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  66. 


136  CIVILIZATION   01     THI-:    INCAS. 

In  some  spots  the  waters  are  still  left  to  flow  in  their 
silent,  subterraneous  channels,  whose  windings  and 
whose  sources  have  been  alike  unexplored.  Others, 
though  partially  dilapidated,  and  closed  up  with  rub- 
bish and  the  rank  vegetation  of  the  soil,  still  betray 
their  course  by  occasional  patches  of  fertility.  Such 
are  the  remains  in  the  valley  of  Nasca,  a  fruitful  spot 
that  lies  between  long  tracts  of  desert ;  where  the 
ancient  water-courses  of  the  Incas,  measuring  four  or 
five  feet  in  depth  by  three  in  width,  and  formed  of 
large  blocks  of  uncemented  masonry,  are  conducted 
from  an  unknown  distance. 

The  greatest  care  was  taken  that  every  occupant  of 
the  land  through  which  these  streams  passed  should 
enjoy  the  benefit  of  them.  The  quantity  of  water 
allotted  to  each  was  prescribed  by  law ;  and  royal  over- 
seers superintended  the  distribution  and  saw  that  it  was 
faithfully  applied  to  the  irrigation  of  the  ground." 

The  Peruvians  showed  a  similar  spirit  of  enterprise 
in  their  schemes  for  introducing  cultivation  into  the 
mountainous  parts  of  their  domain.  Many  of  the  hills, 
though  covered  with  a  strong  soil,  were  too  precipitous 
to  be  tilled.  These  they  cut  into  terraces,  faced  with 
rough  stone,  diminishing  in  regular  gradation  towards 
the  summit;  so  that,  while  the  lower  strip,  or  atnien,  as 
it  was  called  by  the  Spaniards,  that  belted  round  the 
base  of  the  mountain,  might  comprehend  hundreds  of 
acres,  the  uppermost  was  only  large  enough  to  accom- 
modate a  few  rows  of  Indian  corn."  Some  of  the 

*>  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq..  MS.— Memoirs  of  Gen.  Miller, 
vol.  ii.  p.  220. 
»  Miller  supposes  that  it  was  from  these  andenes  that  the  Spaniards 


HO  YAS. 


'37 


eminences  presented  such  a  mass  of  solid  rock  that 
after  being  hewn  into  terraces  they  were  obliged  to  be 
covered  deep  with  earth  before  they  could  serve  the 
purpose  of  the  husbandman.  With  such  patient  toil 
did  the  Peruvians  combat  the  formidable  obstacles 
presented  by  the  face  of  their  country  !  Without  the 
use  of  the  tools  or  the  machinery  familiar  to  the  Euro- 
pean, each  individual  could  have  done  little  ;  but  acting 
in  large  masses,  and  under  a  common  direction,  they 
were  enabled  by  indefatigable  perseverance  to  achieve 
results  to  have  attempted  which  might  have  filled  even 
the  European  with  dismay." 

In  the  same  spirit  of  economical  husbandry  which 
redeemed  the  rocky  sierra  from  the  curse  of  sterility, 
they  dug  below  the  arid  soil  of  the  valleys  and  sought 
for  a  stratum  where  some  natural  moisture  might  be 
found.  These  excavations,  called  by  the  Spaniards 
/nn'iis,  or  "  pits,"  were  made  on  a  great  scale,  compre- 
hending frequently  more  than  an  acre,  sunk  to  the 
depth  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  and  fenced  round 
within  by  a  wall  of  adobes,  or  bricks  baked  in  the  sun. 
The  bottom  of  the  excavation,  well  prepared  by  a  rich 
manure  of  the  sardines, — a  small  fish  obtained  in  vast 


gave  the  name  of  Andes  to  the  South  American  Cordilleras.  ( Memoirs 
of  Gen.  Miller,  vol.  ii.  p.  219.)  But  the  name  is  older  than  the  Con- 
quest, according  to  Garcilasso,  who  traces  it  to  Anti,  the  name  of  a 
province  that  lay  east  of  Cuzco.  (Com.  Real.,  Pane  i.  lib.  2.  cap. 
11.)  Anta,  the  word  for  copper,  which  was  found  abundant  in  certain 
quarters  of  the  country,  may  have  suggested  the  name  of  the  province, 
if  not  immediately  that  of  the  mountains. 

28  Memoirs  of  Gen.   Miller,  ubi  supra. — Garcilasso,  Com    Real.. 
Parte  i,  lib.  5,  cap.  i. 

12* 


I38  CIVILIZATION   OF    THE    INC  AS. 

quantities  along  the  coast, — was  planted  with  some 
kind  of  grain  or  vegetable.23 ' 

The  Peruvian  farmers  were  well  acquainted  with  the 
different  kinds  of  manures,  and  made  large  use  of 
them ;  a  circumstance  rare  in  the  rich  lands  of  the 
tropics,  and  probably  not  elsewhere  practised  by  the 
rude  tribes  of  America.  They  made  great  use  of  guano. 
the  valuable  deposit  of  sea-fowl,  that  has  attracted  so 
much  attention  of  late  from  the  agriculturists  both  of 
Europe  and  of  our  own  country,  and  the  stimulating 
and  nutritious  properties  of  which  the  Indians  perfectly 
appreciated.  This  was  found  in  such  immense  quan- 
tities on  many  of  the  little  islands  along  the  coast  as 
to  have  the  appearance  of  lofty  hills,  which,  covered 
with  a  white  saline  incrustation,  led  the  Conquerors  to 
give  them  the  name  of  the  sierra  ncvada,  or  "snowy 
mountains." 

The  Incas  took  their  usual  precautions  for  securing 
the  benefits  of  this  important  article  to  the  husband- 
man. They  assigned  the  small  islands  on  the  coast  to 
the  use  of  the  respective  districts  which  lay  adjacent 
to  them.  When  the  island  was  large,  it  was  distributed 
among  several  districts,  and  the  boundaries  for  each 
were  clearly  defined.  All  encroachment  on  the  rights 
of  another  was  severely  punished.  And  they  secured 
the  preservation  of  the  fowl  by  penalties  as  stern  as 
those  by  which  the  Norman  tyrants  of  England  pro- 
tected their  own  game.  No  one  was  allowed  to  set 

23  Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  73. — The  remains  of  these  ancient 
excavations  still  excite  the  wonder  of  the  modern  traveller.  See 
Stevenson,  Residence  in  South  America,  vol.  i.  p.  359.— Also  Mc- 
Culloh,  Researches,  p.  358. 


AGRICULTURE. 


139 


foot  on  the  island  during  the  season  for  breeding, 
under  pain  of  death ;  and  to  kill  the  birds  at  any  time 
was  punished  in  like  manner.24 

With  this  advancement  in  agricultural  science,  the 
Peruvians  might  be  supposed  to  have  had  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  plough,  in  such  general  use  among  the 
primitive  nations  of  the  Eastern  continent.  But  they 
had  neither  the  iron  ploughshare  of  the  Old  World, 
nor  had  they  animals  for  draught,  which,  indeed,  were 
nowhere  found  in  the  New.  The  instrument  which 
they  used  was  a  strong,  sharp-pointed  stake,  traversed 
by  a  horizontal  piece,  ten  or  twelve  inches  from  the 
point,  on  which  the  ploughman  might  set  his  foot  and 
force  it  into  the  ground.  Six  or  eight  strong  men 
\vt-rt-  attached  by  ropes  to  the  stake,  and  dragged  it 
forcibly  along, — pulling  together,  and  keeping  time  as 
they  moved  by  chanting  their  national  songs,  in  which 
they  were  accompanied  by  the  women  who  followed  in 
their  train,  to  break  up  the  sods  with  their  rakes.  The 
mellow  soil  offered  slight  resistance;  and  the  laborer, 
by  long  practice,  acquired  a  dexterity  which  enabled 
him  to  turn  up  the  ground  to  the  requisite  depth  with 
astonishing  facility.  This  substitute  for  the  plough 
was  but  a  clumsy  contrivance ;  yet  it  is  curious  as 
the  only  specimen  of  the  kind  among  the  American 
aborigines,  and  was  perhaps  not  much  inferior  to  the 
wooden  instrument  introduced  in  its  stead  by  the 
European  conquerors.  ^ 

It  was  frequently  the  policy  of  the  Incas,  after  pro- 

«*  Acosta,  lib.  4,  cap.  36. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  5, 
cap.  3. 
*s  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  5,  cap.  2. 


I4o  CIVrLIZATION  OF    THE    I.YCAS. 

viding  a  deserted  tract  with  the  means  for  irrigation 
and  thus  fitting  it  for  the  labors  of  the  husbandman,  to 
transplant  there  a  colony  of  mitimaes,  who  brought  it 
under  cultivation  by  raising  the  crops  best  suited  to 
the  soil.  While  the  peculiar  character  and  capacity 
of  the  lands  were  thus  consulted,  a  means  of  exchange 
of  the  different  products  was  afforded  to  the  neighbor- 
ing provinces,  which,  from  the  formation  of  the  coun- 
try, varied  much  more  than  usual  within  the  same 
limits.  To  facilitate  these  agricultural  exchanges,  fairs 
were  instituted,  which  took  place  three  times  a  month 
in  some  of  the  most  populous  places,  where,  as  money 
was  unknown,  a  rude  kind  of  commerce  was  kept  up 
by  the  barter  of  their  respective  products.  These  fairs 
afforded  so  many  holidays  for  the  relaxation  of  the 
industrious  laborer.26 

Such  were  the  expedients  adopted  by  the  Incas  for 
the  improvement  of  their  territory ;  and,  although  im- 
perfect, they  must  be  allowed  to  show  an  acquaintance 
with  the  principles  of  agricultural  science  that  gives 
them  some  claim  to  the  rank  of  a  civilized  people. 
Under  their  patient  and  discriminating  culture,  every 
inch  of  good  soil  was  tasked  to  its  greatest  power  of 
production ;  while  the  most  unpromising  spots  were 
compelled  to  contribute  something  to  the  subsistence 
of  the  people.  Everywhere  the  land  teemed  with  evi- 
dence of  agricultural  wealth,  from  the  smiling  valleys 
along  the  coast  to  the  terraced  steeps  of  the  sierra, 
which,  rising  into  pyramids  of  verdure,  glowed  with 
all  the  splendors  of  tropical  vegetation. 

"SSarmiento,  Rel.,  MS.,  cap.  19.— Garcilasso.  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i, 
lib.  6,  cap.  36 ;  lib.  7,  cap.  i.— Herrera,  Hist,  gen.,  dec.  5.  lib.  4,  cap.  3. 


ESCCLEXTS.  141 

The  formation  of  the  country  was  particularly  favor- 
able, as  already  remarked,  to  an  infinite  variety  of  prod- 
ucts, not  so  much  from  its  extent  as  from  its  various 
elevations,  which,  more  remarkable  even  than  those  in 
Mexico,  comprehend  every  degree  of  latitude  from  the 
equator  to  the  polar  regions.  Yet,  though  the  tem- 
perature changes  in  this  region  with  the  degree  of  ele- 
vation, it  remains  nearly  the  same  in  the  same  spots 
throughout  the  year  ;  and  the  inhabitant  feels  none  of 
those  grateful  vicissitudes  of  season  which  belong  to 
the  temperate  latitudes  of  the  globe.  Thus,  while  the 
summer  lies  in  full  power  on  the  burning  regions  of 
the  palm  and  the  cocoa-tree  that  fringe  the  borders  of 
the  ocean,  the  broad  surface  of  the  table-land  blooms 
with  the  freshness  of  i>eri>etual  spring,  and  the  higher 
summits  of  the  Cordilleras  are  white  with  everlasting 
winter. 

The  Peruvians  turned  this  fixed  variety  of  climate, 
if  I  may  so  say,  to  the  best  account,  by  cultivating  the 
productions  appropriate  to  each  ;  and  they  particularly 
directed  their  attention  to  those  which  afforded  the 
most  nutriment  to  man.  Thus,  in  the  lower  level  were 
to  be  found  the  cassava-tree  and  the  banana,  that 
bountiful  plant,  which  seems  to  have  relieved  man 
from  the  primeval  curse — if  it  were  not  rather  a  bless- 
ing— of  toiling  for  his  sustenance.-7  As  the  banana 

*7  The  prolific  properties  of  the  banana  are  shown  by  M.  de  Hum- 
boldt,  svho  states  that  its  productiveness,  as  compared  with  that  of 
\\heat,  is  as  133  to  i.  and  with  that  of  the  potato,  as  44  to  i.  (Essai 
politique  sur  le  Royaume  de  la  Nouvelle-Espagne  (Paris,  1827),  torn. 
ii.  p.  389.)  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  this  plant  was  not  in- 
digenous to  South  America.  The  bannna-leaf  has  been  frequently 
found  in  ancient  Peruvian  tombs. 


142 


CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INCAS. 


faded  from  the  landscape,  a  good  substitute  was  found 
in  the  maize,  the  great  agricultural  staple  of  both  the 
northern  and  southern  divisions  of  the  American  con- 
tinent, and  which,  after  its  exportation  to  the  Old 
World,  spread  so  rapidly  there  as  to  suggest  the  idea 
of  its  being  indigenous  to  it.28  The  Peruvians  were 
well  acquainted  with  the  different  modes  of  preparing 
this  useful  vegetable,  though  it  seems  they  did  not  use 
it  for  bread,  except  at  festivals ;  and-  they  extracted  a 
sort  of  honey  from  the  stalk,  and  made  an  intoxicating 
liquor  from  the  fermented  grain,  to  which,  like  the 
Aztecs,  they  were  immoderately  addicted.39 

The  temperate  climate  of  the  table-land  furnished 
them  with  the  maguey,  agave  Americana,  many  of  the 
extraordinary  qualities  of  which  they  comprehended, 
though  not  its  most  important  one  of  affording  a  ma- 
terial for  paper.  Tobacco,  too,  was  among  the  prod- 
ucts of  this  elevated  region.  Yet  the  Peruvians  dif- 
fered from  every  other  Indian  nation  to  whom  it  was 
known,  by  using  it  only  for  medicinal  purposes,  in  the 
form  of  snuff.30  They  may  have  found  a  substitute  for 

78  The  misnomer  of  ble  de  Turquie  shows  the  popular  error.  Yet 
the  rapidity  of  its  diffusion  through  Europe  and  Asia  after  the  dis- 
covery of  America  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  show  that  it  could  not  have 
been  indigenous  to  the  Old  World  and  have  so  long  remained  gener- 
ally unknown  there. 

=9  Acosta,  lib.  4,  cap.  16. — The  saccharine  matter  contained  in  the 
maize-stalk  is  much  greater  in  tropical  countries  than  in  more 
northern  latitudes ;  so  that  the  natives  in  the  former  may  be  seen 
sometimes  sucking  it  like  the  sugar-cane.  One  kind  of  the  fermented 
liquors,  sora,  made  from  the  corn,  was  of  such  strength  that  the  use 
of  it  was  forbidden  by  the  Incas,  at  least  to  the  common  people. 
Their  injunctions  do  not  seem  to  have  been  obeyed  so  implicitly  in 
this  instance  as  usual. 

3°  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  2,  cap.  25. 


AXT    F.SCL7.E.YTS. 


'43 


its  narcotic  qualities  in  the  coca  (Erythroxylutn  Pent- 
rianttni},  or  cuca,  as  called  by  the  natives.  This  is  a 
shrub  which  grows  to  the  height  of  a  man.  The  leaves 
when  gathered  are  dried  in  the  sun,  and,  being  mixed 
with  a  little  lime,  form  a  preparation  for  chewing, 
much  like  the  betel-leaf  of  the  East.31  With  a  small 
supply  of  this  cuca  in  his  pouch,  and  a  handful  of 
roasted  maize,  the  Peruvian  Indian  of  our  time  per- 
forms his  wearisome  journeys,  day  after  day,  without 
fatigue,  or,  at  least,  without  complaint.  Even  food 
the  most  invigorating  is  less  grateful  to  him  than  his 
loved  narcotic.  Under  the  Incas,  it  is  said  to  have 
been  exclusively  reserved  for  the  noble  orders.  If  so, 
the  people  gained  one  luxury  by  the  Conquest ;  and 
after  that  period  it  was  so  extensively  used  by  them 
that  this  article  constituted  a  most  important  item  of 
the  colonial  revenue  of  Spain.33  Yet,  with  the  sooth- 
ing charms  of  an  opiate,  this  weed  so  much  vaunted 
by  the  natives,  when  used  to  excess,  is  said  to  be  at- 
tended with  all  the  mischievous  effects  of  habitual  in- 
toxication.33 

3'  The  pungent  leaf  of  the  betel  is  in  like  manner  mixed  with  lime 
when  chewed.  (Elphinstone,  History  of  India  (Lxmdon,  1841),  vol.  i. 
p.  331.)  The  similarity  of  this  social  indulgence,  in  the  remote  East 
and  West,  is  singular. 

3»  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg..  MS.— Acosta,  lib.  4.  cap.  22.— Stevenson, 
Residence  in  South  America,  vol.  ii.  p.  63. — Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica, 
cap.  96. 

33  A  traveller  (Poeppig)  noticed  in  the  Foreign  Quarterly  Review 
(No.  33)  expatiates  on  the  malignant  effects  of  the  habitual  use  of  the 
cuca,  as  very  similar  to  those  produced  on  the  chewer  of  opium. 
Strange  that  such  baneful  properties  should  not  be  the  subject  of  more 
frequent  comment  with  other  writers  !  I  do  not  remember  to  have 
seen  them  even  adverted  to. 


!44  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

Higher  up  on  the  slopes  of  the  Cordilleras,  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  maize  and  of  the  quinoa, — a  grain 
bearing  some  resemblance  to  rice,  and  largely  culti- 
vated by  the  Indians, — was  to  be  found  the  potato,  the 
introduction  of  which  into  Europe  has  made  an  era 
in  the  history  of  agriculture.  Whether  indigenous  to 
Peru,  or  imported  from  the  neighboring  country  of 
Chili,  it  formed  the  great  staple  of  the  more  elevated 
plains,  under  the  Incas,  and  its  culture  was  continued 
to  a  height  in  the  equatorial  regions  which  reached 
many  thousand  feet  above  the  limits  of  perpetual  snow 
in  the  temperate  latitudes  of  Europe.34  Wild  speci- 
mens of  the  vegetable  might  be  seen  still  higher, 
springing  up  spontaneously  amidst  the  stunted  shrubs 
that  clothed  the  lofty  sides  of  the  Cordilleras,  till  these 
gradually  subsided  into  the  mosses  and  the  short  yellow 
grass,  pajonal,  which,  like  a  golden  carpet,  was  unrolled 
around  the  base  of  the  mighty  cones,  that  rose  far  into 
the  regions  of  eternal  silence,  covered  with  the  snows 
of  centuries.35 

34  Malte-Brun,  book  86. — The  potato,  found  by  the  early  discoverers 
in  Chili,  Peru,  New  Granada,  and  all  along  the  Cordilleras  of  South 
America,  was  unknown  in  Mexico, — an  additional  proof  of  the  entire 
ignorance  in  which  the  respective  nations  of  the  two  continents  re- 
mained of  one  another.  M.  de  Humboldt,  who  has  bestowed  much 
attention  on  the  early  history  of  this  vegetable,  which  has  exerted  so 
important  an  influence  on  European  society,  supposes  that  the  culti- 
vation of  it  in  Virginia,  where  it  was  known  to  the  early  planters,  must 
have  been  originally  derived  from  the  Southern  Spanish  colonies. 
Essai  politique,  torn.  ii.  p.  462. 

as  While  Peru,  under  the  Incas,  could  boast  these  indigenous  prod- 
ucts, and  many  others  less  familiar  to  the  European,  it  was  unac- 
quainted with  several,  of  great  importance,  which,  since  the  Conquest, 
have  thriven  there  as  on  their  natural  soil.  Such  are  the  olive,  the 


JMl'ORTAXT   KSCCLK.Y'rS.  145 

grape,  the  fig,  the  apple,  the  orange,  the  sugar-cane. '  None  of  the 
cereal  grains  of  the  Old  World  were  found  there.  The  first  wheat 
was  introduced  by  a  Spanish  lady  of  Truxillo,  who  took  great  pains 
to  disseminate  it  among  the  colonists,  of  which  the  government, 
to  its  credit,  was  not  unmindful.  Her  name  was  Maria  de  Escobar. 
History,  which  is  so  roach  occupied  with  cu-ehrating  the  scourges 
of  humanity,  should  take  pleasure  in  commemorating  one  of  its  real 
benefactors. 


Peru.— VOL.  L— c  13 


CHAPTER  V. 

PERUVIAN    SHEEP. GREAT    HUNTS. MANUFACTURES. 

MECHANICAL  SKILL. — ARCHITECTURE.  — CONCLUDING 
REFLECTIONS. 

A  NATION  which  had  made  such  progress  in  agricul- 
ture might  be  reasonably  expected  to  have  made  also 
some  proficiency  in  the  mechanical  arts, — especially 
when,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Peruvians,  their  agricul- 
tural economy  demanded  in  itself  no  inconsiderable 
degree  of  mechanical  skill.  Among  most  nations, 
progress  in  manufactures  has  been  found  to  have  an 
intimate  connection  with  the  progress  of  husbandry. 
Both  arts  are  directed  to  the  same  great  object  of  sup- 
plying the  necessaries,  the  comforts,  or,  in  a  more  re- 
fined condition  of  society,  the  luxuries,  of  life ;  and 
when  the  one  is  brought  to  a  perfection  that  infers  a 
certain  advance  in  civilization,  the  other  must  naturally 
find  a  corresponding  development  under  the  increasing 
demands  and  capacities  of  such  a  state.  The  subjects 
of  the  Incas,  in  their  patient  and  tranquil  devotion  to 
the  more  humble  occupations  of  industry  which  bound 
them  to  their  native  soil,  bore  greater  resemblance  to 
the  Oriental  nations,  as  the  Hindoos  and  Chinese,  than 
they  bore  to  the  members  of  the  great  Anglo-Saxon 
family,  whose  hardy  temper  has  driven  them  to  seek 
their  fortunes  on  the  stormy  ocean  and  to  open  a  com- 
merce with  the  most  distant  regions  of  the  globe.  The 
(146) 


PERUVIAN   SHEEP. 


147 


Peruvians,  though  lining  a  long  extent  of  sea-coast, 
had  no  foreign  commerce. 

They  had  peculiar  advantages  for  domestic  manufac- 
ture in  a  material  incomparably  superior  to  any  thing 
possessed  by  the  other  races  of  the  Western  continent. 
They  found  a  good  substitute  for  linen  in  a  fabric 
which,  like  the  Aztecs,  they  knew  how  to  weave  from 
the  tough  thread  of  the  maguey.  Cotton  grew  luxu- 
riantly on  the  low,  sultry  level  of  the  coast,  and  fur- 
nished them  with  a  clothing  suitable  to  the  mildei 
latitudes  of  the  country.  But  from  the  llama  and  the 
kindred  species  of  Peruvian  sheep  they  obtained  a 
fleece  adapted  to  the  colder  climate  of  the  table-land, 
"more  estimable,"  to  quote  the  language  of  a  well- 
informed  writer,  "than  the  down  of  the  Canadian 
beaver,  the  fleece  of  the  brebis  ties  Calmoucks,  or  of 
the  Syrian  goat. ' ' ' 

Of  the  four  varieties  of  the  Peruvian  sheep,  the 
llama,  the  one  most  familiarly  known,  is  the  least  valu- 
able on  account  of  its  wool.  It  is  chiefly  employed  as 
a  beast  of  burden,  for  which,  although  it  is  somewhat 
larger  than  any  of  the  other  varieties,  its  diminutive 
size  and  strength  would  seem  to  disqualify  it.  It  car- 
ries a  load  of  little  more  than  a  hundred  pounds,  and 
cannot  travel  above  three  or  four  leagues  in  a  day. 
But  all  this  is  compensated  by  the  little  care  and  cost 
required  for  its  management  and  its  maintenance.  It 
picks  up  an  easy  subsistence  from  the  moss  and  stunted 
herbage  that  grow  scantily  along  the  withered  sides 

'Walton,  Historical  and  Descriptive  Account  of  the  Peruvian  Sheep 
(London,  1811),  p.  115.  This  writer's  comparison  is  directed  to  the 
wool  of  the  vicufia,  the  most  esteemed  of  the  genus  for  its  fleece. 


148  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

and  the  steeps  of  the  Cordilleras.  The  structure  of 
its  stomach,  like  that  of  the  camel,  is  such  as  to  enable 
it  to  dispense  with  any  supply  of  water  for  weeks,  nay, 
months  together.  Its  spongy  hoof,  armed  with  a  claw 
or  pointed  talon  to  enable  it  to  take  secure  hold  on  the 
ice,  never  requires  to  be  shod  ;  and  the  load  laid  upon 
its  back  rests  securely  in  its  bed  of  wool,  without  the 
aid  of  girth  or  saddle.  The  llamas  move  in  troops  of 
five  hundred  or  even  a  thousand,  and  thus,  though  each 
individual  carries  but  little,  the  aggregate  is  consider- 
able. The  whole  caravan  travels  on  at  its  regular  pace, 
passing  the  night  in  the  open  air  without  suffering 
from  the  coldest  temperature,  and  marching  in  perfect 
order  and  in  obedience  to  the  voice  of  the  driver.  It 
is  only  when  overloaded  that  the  spirited  little  animal 
refuses  to  stir,  and  neither  blows  nor  caresses  can  in- 
duce him  to  rise  from  the  ground.  He  is  as  sturdy  in 
asserting  his  rights  on  this  occasion  as  he  is  usually 
docile  and  unresisting.2 

The  employment  of  domestic  animals  distinguished 
the  Peruvians  from  the  other  races  of  the  New  World. 
This  economy  of  human  labor  by  the  substitution  of 
the  brute  is  an  important  element  of  civilization, 
inferior  only  to  what  is  gained  by  the  substitution  of 
machinery  for  both.  Yet  the  ancient  Peruvians  seem 
to  have  made  much  less  account  of  it  than  their 
Spanish  conquerors,  and  to  have  valued  the  llama,  in 

2  Walton,  Hist,  and  Descrip.  Account  of  the  Pervuian  Sheep,  p.  23, 
et  seq.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  8,  cap.  16.— Acosta,  lib. 
4,  cap.  41. — Llama,  according  to  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  is  a  Peruvian 
word  signifying  "  flock."  (Ibid.,  ubi  supra.)  The  natives  got  no  milk 
from  their  domesticated  animals ;  nor  was  milk  used,  I  believe,  by 
any  tribe  on  the  American  continent. 


GREAT  m\\rs. 


149 


common  with  the  other  animals  of  that  genus,  chiefly 
for  its  fleece.  Immense  herds  of  these  "  large  cattle," 
as  they  were  called,  and  of  the  "smaller  cattle,"3 
or  alpacas,  were  held  by  the  government,  as  already 
noticed,  and  placed  under  the  direction  of  shepherds, 
who  conducted  them  from  one  quarter  of  the  country 
to  another,  according  to  the  changes  of  the  season. 
These  migrations  were  regulated  with  all  the  precision 
with  which  the  code  of  the  mesta  determined  the 
migrations  of  the  vast  merino  flocks  in  Spain ;  and  the 
Conquerors,  when  they  landed  in  Peru,  were  amazed 
at  finding  a  race  of  animals  so  similar  to  their  own  in 
properties  and  habits,  and  under  the  control  of  a  system 
of  legislation  which  might  seem  to  have  been  imported 
from  their  native  land.4 

But  the  richest  store  of  wool  was  obtained,  not  from 
these  domesticated  animals,  but  from  the  two  other 
species,  the  huanacos  and  the  vicunas,  which  roamed 
in  native  freedom  over  the  frozen  ranges  of  the  Cor- 
dilleras ;  where  not  unfrequently  they  might  be  seen 
scaling  the  snow-covered  peaks  which  no  living  thing 
inhabits  save  the  condor,  the  huge  bird  of  the  Andes, 
whose  broad  pinions  bear  him  up  in  the  atmosphere  to 
the  height  of  more  than  twenty  thousand  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea.5  In  these  rugged  pastures,  "the 

3  Canada  maior,  ganado  menor. 

«  The  judicious  Ondegardo  emphatically  recommends  the  adoption 
of  many  of  these  regulations  by  the  Spanish  government,  as  pecu- 
liarly suited  to  the  exigencies  of  the  natives  :  "  En  esto  de  los  ganados 
parescio  haber  hecho  muchas  constituciones  en  diferentes  tiempos  e 
algunas  tan  utiles  6  provechosas  para  su  conservacion  que  convendria 
que  tambien  guardasen  agora."  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 

S  Malte-Brun.  book  86. 

13* 


I5o  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

flock  without  a  fold"  finds  sufficient  sustenance  in  the 
ychu,  a  species  of  grass  which  is  found  scattered  all 
along  the  great  ridge  of  the  Cordilleras,  from  the  equa- 
tor to  the  southern  limits  of  Patagonia.  And  as  these 
limits  define  the  territory  traversed  by  the  Peruvian 
sheep,  which  rarely,  if  ever,  venture  north  of  the  line, 
it  seems  not  improbable  that  this  mysterious  little  plant 
is  so  important  to  their  existence  that  the  absence  of 
it  is  the  principal  reason  why  they  have  not  penetrated 
to  the  northern  latitudes  of  Quito  and  New  Granada.6 
But,  although  thus  roaming  without  a  master  over 
the  boundless  wastes  of  the  Cordilleras,  the  Peruvian 
peasant  was  never  allowed  to  hunt  these  wild  animals, 
which  were  protected  by  laws  as  severe  as  were  the 
sleek  herds  that  grazed  on  the  more  cultivated  slopes 
of  the  plateau.  'The  wild  game  of  the  forest  and  the 
mountain  was  as  much  the  property  of  the  government 
as  if  it  had  been  enclosed  within  a  park  or  penned 
within  a  fold.7  It  was  only  on  stated  occasions,  at  the 
great  hunts  which  took  place  once  a  year,  under  the 
personal  superintendence  of  the  Inca  or  his  principal 
officers,  that  the  game  was  allowed  to  be  taken. 
These  hunts  were  not  repeated  in  the  same  quarter  of 
the  country  oftener  than  once  in  four  years,  that  time 
might  be  allowed  for  the  waste  occasioned  by  them  to 
be  replenished.  At  the  appointed  time,  all  those  living 
in  the  district  and  its  neighborhood,  to  the  number,  it 
might  be,  of  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  men,8  were  dis- 

6  Ychu,  called  in  the  Flora  Peruana  Jarava  ;  Class,  Monandria 
Digynia.     See  Walton,  p.  17. 

7  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. 

8  Sometimes  even  a  hundred  thousand  mustered,  when  the  Inca 
hunted  in  person,  if  we  may  credit  Sarmiento  :  "  De  donde  haviendose 


MANUFACTURES.  1 5 1 

tributed  round,  so  as  to  form  a  cordon  of  immense 
extent,  that  should  embrace  the  whole  country  which 
was  to  be  hunted  over.  The  men  were  armed  with 
long  poles  and  spears,  with  which  they  beat  up  game 
of  every  description  lurking  in  the  woods,  the  valleys, 
and  the  mountains,  killing  the  beasts  of  prey  without 
mercy,  and  driving  the  others,  consisting  chiefly  of  the 
deer  of  the  country,  and  the  huanacos  and  vicufias, 
towards  the  centre  of  the  wide-extended  circle ;  until, 
as  this  gradually  contracted,  the  timid  inhabitants  of 
the  forests  were  concentrated  on  some  spacious  plain, 
where  the  eye  of  the  hunter  might  range  freely  over 
his  victims,  who  found  no  place  for  shelter  or  escape. 

The  male  deer  and  some  of  the  coarser  kind  of  the 
Peruvian  sheep  were  slaughtered ;  their  skins  were 
reserved  for  the  various  useful  manufactures  to  which 
they  are  ordinarily  applied,  and  their  flesh,  cut  into 
thin  slices,  was  distributed  among  the  people,  who 
converted  it  into  charqui,  the  dried  meat  of  the 
country,  which  constituted  then  the  sole,  as  it  has 
since  the  principal,  animal  food  of  the  lower  classes 
of  Peru.9 

But  nearly  the  whole  of  the  sheep,  amounting  usually 
to  thirty  or  forty  thousand,  or  even  a  larger  number, 
after  being  carefully  sheared,  were  suffered  to  escape 
and  regain  their  solitary  haunts  among  the  mountains. 
The  wool  thus  collected  was  deposited  in  the  royal 

ya  juntado  cinquenta  6  sesenta  mil  Personaso  cien  mil  si  mandado 
les  era."  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  13. 

9  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. —  Charqvi  ;  hence,  probably,  says  McCulloh,  the 
term  "jerked,"  applied  to  the  dried  beef  of  South  America.  Re- 
searches, p.  377. 


I52  CIVILIZATION   OF    THE    f.\'CAS. 

magazines,  whence,  in  due  time,  it  was  dealt  out  to  the 
people.  The  coarser  quality  was  worked  up  into  gar- 
ments for  their  own  use,  and  the  finer  for  the  Inca ;  for 
none  but  an  Inca  noble  could  wear  the  fine  fabric  of 
the  vicufta.10 

The  Peruvians  showed  great  skill  in  the  manufacture 
of  different  articles  for  the  royal  household  from  this 
delicate  material,  which,  under  the  name  of  vigonia 
wool,  is  now  familiar  to  the  looms  of  Europe.  It  was 
wrought  into  shawls,  robes,  and  other  articles  of  dress 
for  the  monarch,  and  into  carpets,  coverlets,  and  hang- 
ings for  the  imperial  palaces  and  the  temples.  The 
cloth  was  finished  on  both  sides  alike ; "  the  delicacy 
of  the  texture  was  such  as  to  give  it  the  lustre  of  silk ; 
and  the  brilliancy  of  the  dyes  excited  the  admiration 
and  the  envy  of  the  European  artisan."  The  Peru- 
vians produced  also  an  article  of  great  strength  and 
durability  by  mixing  the  hair  of  animals  with  wool ; 
and  they  were  expert  in  the  beautiful  feather-work, 
which  they  held  of  less  account  than  the  Mexicans, 
from  the  superior  quality  of  the  materials  for  other 
fabrics  which  they  had  at  their  command.'3 

10  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  loc.  cit. — Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap. 
81. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  6,  cap.  6. 

"Acosta,  lib.  4,  cap.  41. 

12  "  Ropas  finisimas  para  los  Reyes,  que  lo  eran  tanto  que  parecian 
de  sarga  de  seda  y  con  colores  tan  perfectos  quanto  se  puede  afirmar." 
Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  13. 

'3  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq..  MS.—"  Ropa  finissima  para  los 
senores  Ingas  de  lana  de  las  Vicunias.  Y  cierto  fue  tan  prima  esta 
ropa,  como  auran  visto  en  Espana :  por  alguna  que  alia  fue  luego  que 
se  gano  este  reyno.  Los  vestidos  destos  Ingas  eran  camisetas  desta 
ropa:  vnas  pobladas  de  argenteria  de  oro,  otras  de  esmeraldas  y  pie- 
dras  preciosas :  y  algunas  de  plumas  de  aues  :  otras  de  solamente  la 


MECIUMCM.    SKILL.  !53 

The  natives  showed  a  skill  in  other  mechanical  arts 
similar  to  that  displayed  by  their  manufactures  of  cloth. 
Every  man  in  Peru  was  expected  to  be  acquainted 
with  the  various  handicrafts  essential  to  domestic  com-_ 
fort.  No  long  apprenticeship  was  required  for  this, 
where  the  wants  were  so  few  as  among  the  simple 
peasantry  of  the  Incas.  But,  if  this  were  all,  it  would 
imply  but  a  very  moderate  advancement  in  the  arts. 
There  were  certain  individuals,  however,  carefully 
trained  to  those  occupations  which  minister  to  the 
demands  of  the  more  opulent  classes  of  society.  These 
occupations,  like  every  other  calling  and  office  in  Peni, 
always  descended  from  father  to  son.'4  The  division 
of  castes,  in  this  particular,  was  as  precise  as-  that  which 
existed  in  Egypt  or  Hindostan.  If  this  arrangement 
be  unfavorable  to  originality,  or  to  the  development 
of  the  peculiar  talent  of  the  individual,  it  at  least 
conduces  to  an  easy  and  finished  execution,  by  famil- 
iarizing the  artist  with  the  practice  of  his  art  from 
childhood. l$ 

The  royal  magazines  and  the  huacas  or  tombs  of  the 
Incas  have  been  found  to  contain  many  specimens  of 
curious  and  elaborate  workmanship.  Among  these  are 
vases  of  gold  and  silver,  bracelets,  collars,  and  other 

manta.  Para  hazer  estas  ropas,  tuuierS  y  tienen  tan  perfetas  colores 
de  carmesi,  azul,  amarillo,  negro,  y  de  otras  suertes,  que  verdadera- 
mente  tienen  ventaja  a  las  de  Espafta."  Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap. 
114. 

M  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim,  et  Seg.,  MSS. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real., 
Parte  i,  lib.  5,  cap.  7,  9,  13. 

«s  At  least,  such  was  the  opinion  of  the  Egyptians,  who  referred  to 
this  arrangement  of  castes  as  the  source  of  their  own  peculiar  dexterity 
in  the  arts.     See  Diodorus  Sic.,  lib.  i,  sec.  74. 
G* 


1 54  CIVILIZATION    OF    THE    IXC  AS.    . 

ornaments  for  the  person ;  utensils  of  every  descrip- 
tion, some  of  fine  clay,  and  many  more  of  copper ; 
mirrors  of  a  hard,  polished  stone,  or  burnished  silver, 
with  a  great  variety  of  other  articles  made  frequently 
on  a  whimsical  pattern,  evincing  quite  as  much  inge- 
nuity as  taste  or  inventive  talent.16  The  character  of 
the  Peruvian  mind  led  to  imitation,  in  fact,  rather  than 
invention,  to  delicacy  and  minuteness  of  finish,  rather 
than  to  boldness  or  beauty  of  design. 

That  they  should  have  accomplished  these  difficult 
works  with  such  tools  as  they  possessed  is  truly  won- 
derful. It  was  comparatively  easy  to  cast  and  even  to 
sculpture  metallic  substances,  both  of  which  they  did 
with  consummate  skill.  But  that  they  should  have 
shown  the  like  facility  in  cutting  the  hardest  sub- 
stances, as  emeralds  and  other  precious  stones,  is  not 
so  easy  to  explain.  Emeralds  they  obtained  in  consid- 
erable quantity  from  the  barren  district  of  Atacames, 
and  this  inflexible  material  seems  to  have  been  almost 
as  ductile  in  the  hands  of  the  Peruvian  artist  as  if  it 
had  been  made  of  clay.17  Yet  the  natives  were  un- 

16  Ulloa,  Not.  Amer.,  ent.  21.— Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 
— Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  114. — Condamine,  Mem.  ap.  Hist,  de 
1'Acad.  Royale  de  Berlin,  torn.  ii.  pp.  454-456. — The  last  writer  says 
that  a  large  collection  of  massive  gold  ornaments  of  very  rich  work- 
manship was  long  preserved  in  the  royal  treasury  of  Quito.  But  on 
his  going  there  to  examine  them  he  learned  that  they  had  just  been 
melted  down  into  ingots  to  send  to  Carthagena,  then  besieged  by  the 
English !  The  art  of  war  can  flourish  only  at  the  expense  of  all  the 
other  arts. 

'7  They  had  turquoises,  also,  and  might  have  had  pearls,  but  for  the 
tenderness  of  the  Incas,  who  were  unwilling  to  risk  the  lives  of  their 
people  in  this  perilous  fishery  !  At  least,  so  we  are  assured  by  Gar- 
cilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i.  lib.  8,  cap.  23. 


MECHANICAL    SKILL. 


'55 


acquainted  with  the  use  of  iron,  though  the  soil  was 
largely  impregnated  with  it.18  The  tools  used  were  of 
stone,  or  more  frequently  of  copper.  But  the  material 
on  which  they  relied  for  the  execution  of  their  most 
difficult  tasks  was  formed  by  combining  a  very  small 
portion  of  tin  with  copper.'9  This  composition  gave 
a  hardness  to  the  metal  which  seems  to  have  been  little 
inferior  to  that  of.  steel.  With  the  aid  of  it,  not  only 
did  the  Peruvian  artisan  hew  into  shape  porphyry  and 
granite,  but  by  his  patient  industry  accomplished 
works  which  the  European  would  not  have  ventured  to 
undertake.  Among  the  remains  of  the  monuments  of 
Cannar  may  be  seen  movable  rings  in  the  muzzles  of 
animals,  all  nicely  sculptured  of  one  entire  block  of 
granite.20  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  Egyptians, 
the  Mexicans,  and  the  Peruvians,  in  their  progress 
towards  civilization,  should  never  have  detected  the 
use  of  iron,  which  lay  around  them  in  abundance,  and 
that  they  should  each,  without  any  knowledge  of  the 
other,  have  found  a  substitute  for  it  in  such  a  curious 
composition  of  metals  as  gave  to  their  tools  almost  the 
temper  of  steel ; ai  a  secret  that  has  been  lost — or,  to 

«8  "  N7o  tenian  herramientas  de  hierro  ni  azero."  Ondegardo,  Rel. 
Seg.,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  4,  cap.  4. 

'9  M.  de  Humboldt  brought  with  him  back  to  Europe  one  of  these 
metallic  tools,  a  chisel,  found  in  a  silver-mine  opened  by  the  Incas 
not  far  from  Cuzco.  On  an  analysis,  it  was  found  to  contain  0.94  of 
copper  and  0.06  of  tin.  See  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  117. 

30  "  Quoiqu'il  en  soil,"  says  M.  de  la  Condamine,  "  nous  avons  vu 
en  quelques  autres  ruines  des  ornemens  du  meme  granit,  qui  reprer 
sentoient  des  mufles  d'animaux,  dont  les  narines  percees  portoient  des 
anneaux  mobiles  de  la  meme  pierre."  Mem.  ap.  Hist,  de  1'Acad. 
Royale  de  Berlin,  torn.  ii.  p.  452. 

21  See  the  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  Book  i,  chap.  5. 


I56  CIVILIZATION   OF    THE    INCAS. 

speak  more  correctly,  has  never  been  discovered— by 
the  civilized  European. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  large  quantity  of  gold 
and  silver  wrought  into  various  articles  of  elegance  and 
utility  for  the  Incas;  though  the  amount  was  incon- 
siderable, in  comparison  with  what  could  have  been 
afforded  by  the  mineral  riches  of  the  land,  and  with 
what  has  since  been  obtained  by  the  more  sagacious 
and  unscrupulous  cupidity  of  the  white  man.  Gold 
was  gathered  by  the  Incas  from  the  deposits  of  the 
streams.  They  extracted  the  ore  also  in  considerable 
quantities  from  the  valley  of  Curimayo,  northeast  of 
Caxamarca,  as  well  as  from  other  places ;  and  the 
silver-mines  of  Porco,  in  particular,  yielded  them  con- 
siderable returns.  Yet  they  did  not  attempt  to  pene- 
trate into  the  bowels  of  the  earth  by  sinking  a  shaft, 
but  simply  excavated  a  cavern  in  the  steep  sides  of  the 
mountain,  or,  at  most,  opened  a  horizontal  vein  of 
moderate  depth.  They  were  equally  deficient  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  best  means  of  detaching  the  precious 
metal  from  the  dross  with  which  it  was  united,  and 
had  no  idea  of  the  virtues  of  quicksilver — a  mineral 
not  rare  in  Peru — as  an  amalgam  to  effect  this  decom- 
position." Their  method  of  smelting  the  ore  was  by 
means  of  furnaces  built  in  elevated  and  exposed  situa- 
tions, where  they  might  be  fanned  by  the  strong  breezes 
of  the  mountains.  The  subjects  of  the  Incas,  in  short, 
with  all  their  patient  perseverance,  did  little  more  than 
penetrate  below  the  crust,  the  outer  rind,  as  it  were, 
formed  over  those  golden  caverns  which  lie  hidden  in 
the  dark  depths  of  the  Andes.  Yet  what  they  gleaned 
33  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  8,  cap.  25. 


ARCHITECTURE. 


'57 


from  the  surface  was  more  than  adequate  for  all  their 
demands.  For  they  were  not  a  commercial  people, 
and  had  no  knowledge  of  money.33  In  this  they  dif- 
fered from  the  ancient  Mexicans,  who  had  an  estab- 
lished currency  of  a  determinate  value.  In  one  respect, 
however,  they  were  superior  to  their  American  rivals, 
since  they  made  use  of  weights  to  determine  the  quan- 
tity of  their  commodities,  a  thing  wholly  unknown  to 
the  Aztecs.  This  fact  is  ascertained  by  the  discovery 
of  silver  balances,  adjusted  with  perfect  accuracy,  in 
some  of  the  tombs  of  the  Incas.24 

But  the  surest  test  of  the  civilization  of  a  people — 
at  least,  as  sure  as  any — afforded  by  mechanical  art  is 
to  be  found  in  their  architecture,  which  presents  so 
noble  a  field  for  the  display  of  the  grand  and  the  beau- 
tiful, and  which  at  the  same  time  is  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  essential  comforts  ot  life.  There  is  no 
object  on  which  the  resources  of  the  wealthy  are  more 
freely  lavished,  or  which  calls  out  more  effectually  the 
inventive  talent  of  the  artist.  The  painter  and  the 
sculptor  may  display  their  individual  genius  in  crea- 
tions of  surpassing  excellence,  but  it  is  the  great  monu- 
ments of  architectural  taste  and  magnificence  that  are 
stamped  in  a  peculiar  manner  by  the  genius  of  the 
nation.  The  Greek,  the  Egyptian,  the  Saracen,  the 
Gothic, — what  a  key  do  their  respective  styles  afford 

*3  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  5,  cap.  7;  Jib.  6,  cap.  8.— 
Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. — This,  which  Bonaparte  thought  so  in- 
credible of  the  little  island  of  Loo  Choo,  was  still  more  extraordinary 
in  a  great  and  flourishing  empire  like  Peru, — the  country,  too,  which 
contained  within  its  bowels  the  treasures  that  were  one  day  to  furnish 
Europe  with  the  basis  of  its  vast  metallic  currency. 

"*  Ulloa,  Not.  Amer.,  ent.  21. 

Peru.— VOL.  I.  14 


jC58  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    IXC  AS. 

to  the  character  and  condition  of  the  people  !  The 
monuments  of  China,  of  Hindostan,  and  of  Central 
America  are  all  indicative  of  an  immature  period,  in 
which  the  imagination  has  not  been  disciplined  by 
study,  and  which,  therefore,  in  its  best  results,  betrays 
only  the  ill-regulated  aspirations  after  the  beautiful, 
that  belong  to  a  semi-civilized  people. 

The  Peruvian  architecture,  bearing  also  the  general 
characteristics  of  an  imperfect  state  of  refinement,  had 
still  its  peculiar  character ;  and  so  uniform  was  that 
character  that  the  edifices  throughout  the  country  seem 
to  have  been  all  cast  in  the  same  mould.25  They  were 
usually  built  of  porphyry  or  granite  ;  not  unfrequently 
of  brick.  This,  which  was  formed  into  blocks  or 
squares  of  much  larger  dimensions  than  our  brick,  was 
made  of  a  tenacious  earth  mixed  up  with  reeds  or  tough 
grass,  and  acquired  a  degree  of  hardness  with  age  that 
made  it  insensible  alike  to  the  storms  and  the  more 
trying  sun  of  the  tropics.26  The  walls  were  of  great 
thickness,  but  low,  seldom  reaching  to  more  than 
twelve  or  fourteen  feet  in  height.  It  is  rare  to  meet 
with  accounts  of  a  building  that  rose  to  a  second  story.27 

"5  It  is  the  observation  of  Humboldt.  "  II  est  impossible  d'exanti- 
ner  attentivement  un  seul  edifice  du  temps  des  Incas,  sans  reconnoitre 
le  meme  type  dans  tous  les  autres  qui  couvrent  le  dos  des  Andes,  sur 
une  longueur  de  plus  de  quatre  cent  cinquante  lieues,  depuis  milie 
jusqu'a  quatre  mille  metres  d 'elevation  au-dessus  du  niveau-de 
1'Ocean.  On  dirait  qu'un  seul  architecte  a  construit  ce  grand  nombre 
de  monumens."  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  197. 

26  Ulloa,  who  carefully  examined  these  bricks,  suggests  that  there 
must  have  been  some  secret  in  their  composition, — so  superior  in 
many  respects  to  our  own  manufacture, — now  lost.  Not.  Amer  , 
ent.  20. 

"7  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


ARCHITECTURE. 


'59 


The  apartments  had  no  communication  with  one 
another,  but  usually  opened  into  a  court ;  and,  as  they 
were  unprovided  with  windows,  or  apertures  that  served 
for  them,*  the  only  light  from  without  must  have  been 
admitted  by  the  doorways.  These  were  made  with 
the  sides  approaching  each  other  towards  the  top,  so 
that  the  lintel  was  considerably  narrower  than  the 
threshold,  a- peculiarity,  also,  in  Egyptian  architecture. 
The  roofs  have,  for  the  most  part,  disappeared  with 
time.  Some  few  survive  in  the  less  ambitious  edifices, 
of  a  singular  bell-shape,  and  made  of  a  composition 
of  earth  and  pebbles.  They  are  supposed,  however, 
to  have  been  generally  formed  of  more  perishable  ma- 
terials, of  wood  or  straw.  It  is  certain  that  some  of 
the  most  considerable  stone  buildings  were  thatched 
with  straw.  Many  seem  to  have  been  constructed 
without  the  aid  of  cement ;  and  writers  have  contended 
that  the  Peruvians  were  unacquainted  with  the  use  of 
mortar,  or  cement  of  any  kind.28  But  a  close,  tena- 
cious mould,  mixed  with  lime,  may  be  discovered,  filling 
up  the  interstices  of  the  granite  in  some  buildings ;  and 
in  others,  where  the  well-fitted  blocks  leave  no  room 
for  this  coarser  material,  the  eye  of  the  antiquary  has 

28  Among  others,  sec  Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  15.— Robertson,  History 
of  America  (London,  1796),  vol.  Hi.  p.  213. 


*  [According  to  Mr.  Markham,  the  palaces  of  the  Incas  "  had  small 
square  windows,  and  deep  recesses  of  the  same  size,  at  intervals;" 
and  he  adds,  "  It  has  been  stated  that  the  ancient  Peruvian  buildings 
had  no  windows.  This  is  a  mistake.  Amongst  other  instances,  I 
may  mention  the  occurrence  of  one  in  the  palace  of  the  Colcampata, 
at  Cuzco."  Cieza  de  Leon,  Eng.  trans.,  Introduction,  p.  xxix.  See 
also  Rivero,  Antiquities  of  Peru,  p.  233. — ED.] 


*6o  CIVILIZATIOX   Of    THE    IXC  AS. 

detected  a  fine  bituminous  glue,  as  hard  as  the  rock 
itself.29 

The  greatest  simplicity  is  observed  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  buildings,  which  are  usually  free  from  out- 
ward ornament;  though  in  some  the  huge  stones  are 
shaped  into  a  convex  form  with  great  regularity,  and 
adjusted  with  such  nice  precision  to  one  another  that 
it  would  be  impossible,  but  for  the  flutings,  to  deter- 
mine the  line  of  junction.  In  others  the  stone  is 
rough,  as  it  was  taken  from  the  quarry,  in  the  most 
irregular  forms,  with  the  edges  nicely  wrought  and 
fitted  to  each  other.  There  is  no  appearance  of  col- 
umns or  of  arches ;  though  there  is  some  contradiction 
as  to  the  latter  point.  But  it  is  not  to  be  doubted 
that,  although  they  may  have  made  some  approach  to 
this  mode  of  construction  by  the  greater  or  less  incli- 
nation of  the  walls,  the  Peruvian  architects  were  wholly 
unacquainted  with  the  true  principle  of  the  circular 
arch  reposing  on  its  key-stone.30 

*9  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg..  MS.— Ulloa,  Not.  Araer.,  ent.  21.— Hum- 
boldt,  who  analyzed  the  cement  of  the  ancient  structures  at  Cannar, 
says  that  it  is  a  true  mortar,  formed  of  a  mixture  of  pebbles  and  a 
clayey  marl.  (Vues  des  Cordilleres.  p.  116.)  Father  Velasco  is  in 
raptures  with  an  "  almost  imperceptible  kind  of  cement"  made  of 
lime  and  a  bituminous  substance  resembling  glue,  which  incorporated 
with  the  stones  so  as  to  hold  them  firmly  together  like  one  solid  mass, 
yet  left  nothing  visible  to  the  eye  of  the  common  observer.  This 
glutinous  composition,  mixed  with  pebbles,  made  a  sort  of  macadam- 
ized road  much  used  by  the  Incas,  as  hard  and  almost  as  smooth  af 
marble.  Hist,  de  Quito,  torn.  i.  pp.  126-128. 

3°  Condamine,  Mem.  ap.  Hist,  de  1'Acad.  Royale  de  Berlin,  torn, 
li.  p.  448.— Antig.  y  Monumentos  del  Peru,  MS.— Herrera,  Hist.  ge< 
.leral,  dec.  5,  lib.  4,  cap.  4. — Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  14. — Ulloa,  VoyajJ 
'o  South  America,  vol.  i.  p.  469.— Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 


ARCHITECTURE.  161 

The  architecture  of  the  Incas  is  characterized,  says 
an  eminent  traveller,  "by  simplicity,  symmetry,  and 
solidity."31  It  may  seem  unphilosophical  to  condemn 
the  peculiar  fashion  of  a  nation  as  indicating  want  of 
taste,  because  its  standard  of  taste  differs  from  our 
own.  Yet  there  is  an  incongruity  in  the  composition 
of  the  Peruvian  buildings  which  argues  a  very  imperfect 
acquaintance  with  the  first  principles  of  architecture. 
While  they  put  together  their  bulky  masses  of  porphyry 
and  granite  with  the  nicest  art,  they  were  incapable  of 
mortising  their  timbers,  and,  in  their  ignorance  of  iron, 
knew  no  better  way  of  holding  the  beams  together  than 
tying  them  with  thongs  of  maguey.  In  the  same  in- 
congruous spirit,  the  building  that  was  thatched  with 
straw  and  unilluminated  by  a  window  was  glowing  with 
tapestries  of  gold  and  silver  !  These  are  the  inconsist- 
encies of  a  rude  people,  among  whom  the  arts  are  but 
partially  developed.  It  might  not  be  difficult  to  find 
examples  of  like  inconsistency  in  the  architecture  and 
domestic  arrangements  of  our  Anglo-Saxon  and,  at  a 
still  later  period,  of  our  Norman  ancestors. 

Yet  the  buildings  of  the  Incas  were  accommodated 
to  the  character  of  the  climate,  and  were  well  fitted  to 
resist  those  terrible  convulsions  which  belong  to  the 
land  of  volcanoes.  The  wisdom  of  their  plan  is  attested 
by  the  number  which  still  survive,  while  the  more  mod- 
ern constructions  of  the  Conquerors  have  been  buried 
in  ruins.  The  hand  of  the  Conquerors,  indeed,  has 
fallen  heavily  on  these  venerable  monuments,  and,  in 

3«  "Simplicity  symetrie,  et  solidite1,  voila  les  trois  caracteres  par 
lesquels  se  distinguent  avantageusement  tous  les  edifices  pe>uviens." 
Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  115. 
H* 


1 62  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    /.vr./.V. 

their  blind  and  superstitious  search  for  hidden  treasure, 
has  caused  infinitely  more  ruin  than  time  or  the  earth- 
quake.32 Yet  enough  of  these  monuments  still  remain 
to  invite  the  researches  of  the  antiquary.  Those  only 
in  the  most  conspicuous  situations  have  been  hitherto 
examined.  But,  by  the  testimony  of  travellers,  many 
more  are  to  be  found  in  the  less  frequented  parts  of  the 
country ;  and  we  may  hope  they  will  one  day  call  forth 
a  kindred  spirit  of  enterprise  to  that  which  has  so  suc- 

y  The  anonymous  author  of  the  Antig.  y  Monumentos  del  Peru 
MS.,  gives  us,  at  second  hand,  one  of  those  golden  traditions  which, 
in  early  times,  fostered  the  spirit  of  adventure.  The  tradition,  in  this 
instance,  he  thinks  well  entitled  to  credit.  The  reader  will  judge  for 
himself. 

"  It  is  a  well-authenticated  report,  and  generally  received,  that  there 
is  a  secret  hall  in  the  fortress  of  Cuzco,  where  an  immense  treasure  is 
concealed,  consisting  of  the  statues  of  all  the  Incas,  wrought  in  gold. 
A  lady  is  still  living,  Dona  Maria  de  Esquivel,  the  wife  of  the  last 
Inca,  who  has  visited  this  hall,  and  I  have  heard  her  relate  the  way  in 
which  she  was  carried  to  see  it. 

"  Don  Carlos,  the  lady's  husband,  did  not  maintain  a  style  of  living 
becoming  his  high  rank.  Dona  Maria  sometimes  reproached  him, 
declaring  that  she  had  been  deceived  into  marrying  a  poor  Indian 
under  the  lofty  title  of  Lord  or  Inca.  She  said  this  so  frequently  that 
Don  Carlos  one  night  exclaimed,  '  Lady !  do  you  wish  to  know 
whether  I  am  rich  or  poor?  You  shall  see  that  no  lord  nor  king  in 
the  world  has  a  larger  treasure  than  I  have.'  Then,  covering  her  eyes 
with  a  handkerchief,  he  made  her  turn  round  two  or  three  times,  and, 
taking  her  by  the  hand,  led  her  a  short  distance  before  he  removed 
the  bandage.  On  opening  her  eyes,  what  was  her  amazement !  She 
had  gone  not  more  than  two  hundred  paces,  and  descended  a  short 
flight  of  steps,  and  she  now  found  herself  in  a  large  quadrangular 
hall,  where,  ranged  on  benches  round  the  walls,  she  beheld  the 
statues  of  the  Incas,  each  of  the  size  of  a  boy  twelve  years  old,  all  of 
massive  gold !  She  saw  also  many  vessels  of  gold  and  silver.  '  In 
fact,'  she  said,  '  it  was  one  of  the  most  magnificent  treasures  in  the 
whole  world !'" 


CONCLUDLVG    Rf-./- LECTIONS.  163 

cessfully  explored  the  mysterious  recesses  of  Central 
America  and  Yucatan.* 

I  cannot  close  this  analysis  of  the  Peruvian  institu- 
tions without  a  few  reflections  on  their  general  character 
and  tendency,  which,  if  they  involve  some  repetition 
of  previous  remarks,  may,  I  trust,  be  excused,  from  my 
desire  to  leave  a- correct  and  consistent  impression  on 
the  reader.  In  this  survey  we  cannot  but  be  struck 
with  the  total  dissimilarity  between  these  institutions 
and  those  of  the  Aztecs, — the  other  great  nation  who 
led  in  the  march  of  civilization  on  this  Western  conti- 
nent, and  whose  empire  in  the  northern  portion  of  it 
was  as  conspicuous  as  that  of  the  Incas  in  the  south. 
Both  nations  came  on  the  plateau  and  commenced  their 
career  of  conquest  at  dates,  it  may  be,  not  far  removed 
from  each  other.33  And  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that,  in 
America,  the  elevated  region  along  the  crests  of  the 
great  mountain-ranges  should  have  been  the  chosen 
seat  of  civilization  in  both  hemispheres. 

Very  different  was   the   policy  pursued  by  the  two 

•    33  Ante,  chap,  i. 

*  [In  the  foregoing  remarks  the  author  has  scarcely  done  justice  to 
the  artistic  character  of  the  Peruvian  architecture,  its  great  superiority 
to  the  Mexican,  and  the  resemblances  which  it  offers,  in  style  and 
development,  to  the  early  stages  of  Greek  and  Egyptian  art.  The 
subject  has  been  fully,  and  of  course  very  ably,  treated  by  Mr.  Fer- 
gusson,  in  his  Handbook  of  Architecture.  The  Peruvian  pottery, 
which  Prescott  has  passed  over  with  a  mere  incidental  mention,  might 
also  have  claimed  particular  notice.  Its  characteristics  are  now  more 
familiar,  from  numerous  specimens  in  public  and  private  collections. 
For  a  description  of  these  interesting  relics,  and  a  comparison  with 
other  remains  of  ancient  ceramic  art,  see  Wilson,  Prehistoric  Man, 
chap.  17.— ED."] 


164  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

races  in  their  military  career.  The  Aztecs,  animated 
by  the  most  ferocious  spirit,  carried  on  a  war  of  extermi- 
nation, signalizing  their  triumphs  by  the  sacrifice  of 
hecatombs  of  captives ;  while  the  Incas,  although  they 
pursued  the  game  of  conquest  with  equal  pertinacity, 
preferred  a  milder  policy,  substituting  negotiation  and 
intrigue  for  violence,  and  dealt  with  their  antagonists 
so  that  their  future  resources  should  not  be  crippled, 
and  that  they  should  come  as  friends,  not  as  foes,  into 
the  bosom  of  the  empire. 

Their  policy  towards  the  conquered  forms  a  contrast 
no  less  striking  to  that  pursued  by  the  Aztecs.  The 
Mexican  vassals  were  ground  by  excessive  imposts  and 
military  conscriptions.  No  regard  was  had  to  their 
welfare,  and  the  only  limit  to  oppression  was  the  power 
of  endurance.  They  were  overawed  by  fortresses  and 
armed  garrisons,  and  were  made  to  feel  every  hour  that 
they  were  not  part  and  parcel  of  the  nation,  but  held 
only  in  subjugation  as  a  conquered  people.  The  Incas, 
on  the  other  hand,  admitted  their  new  subjects  at  once 
to  all  the  rights  enjoyed  by  the  rest  of  the  community  ; 
and,  though  they  made  them  conform  to  the  established 
laws  and  usages  of  the  empire,  they  watched  over  their 
personal  security  and  comfort  with  a  sort  of  parental 
solicitude.  The  motley  population,  thus  bound  together 
by  common  interest,  was  animated  by  a  common  feel- 
ing of  loyalty,  which  gave  greater  strength  and  stability 
to  the  empire  as  it  became  more  and  more  widely  ex- 
tended ;  while  the  various  tribes  who  successively  came 
under  the  Mexican  sceptre,  being  held  together  only  by 
the  pressure  of  external  force,  were  ready  to  fall  asunder 
the  moment  that  that  force  was  withdrawn.  The  policy 


CONCLUDING    REFLECTIONS.  165 

of  the  two  nations  displayed  the  principle  of  fear  as 
contrasted  with  the  principle  of  love. 

The  characteristic  features  of  their  religious  systems 
had  as  little  resemblance  to  each  other.  The  whole 
Aztec  pantheon  partook  more  or  less  of  the  sanguinary 
spirit  of  the  terrible  war-god  who  presided  over  it,  and 
the  frivolous  ceremonial  almost  always  terminated 
with  human  sacrifice  and  cannibal  orgies.  But  the 
rites  of  the  Peruvians  were  of  a  more  innocent  cast,  as 
they  tended  to  a  more  spiritual  worship.  For  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Creator  is  most  nearly  approached  by  that 
of  the  heavenly  bodies,  which,  as  they  revolve  in  their 
bright  orbits,  seem  to  be  the  most  glorious  symbols  of 
his  beneficence  and  power. 

In  the  minuter  mechanical  arts,  both  showed  con- 
siderable skill ;  but  in  the  construction  of  important 
public  works,  of  roads,  aqueducts,  canals,  and  in  agri- 
culture in  all  its  details,  the  Peruvians  were  much  supe- 
rior. Strange  that  they  should  have  fallen  so  far  below 
their  rivals  in  their  efforts  after  a  higher  intellectual 
culture,  in  astronomical  science  more  especially,  and  in 
the  art  of  communicating  thought  by  visible  symbols. 
When  we  consider  the  greater  refinement  of  the  Incas, 
their  inferiority  to  the  Aztecs  in  these  particulars  can 
be  explained  only  by  the  fact  that  the  latter  in  all  prob- 
ability were  indebted  for  their  science  to  the  race  who 
preceded  them  in  the  land, — that  shadowy  race  whose 
origin  and  whose  end  are  alike  veiled  from  the  eye  of 
the  inquirer,  but  who  possibly  may  have  sought  a  refuge 
from  their  ferocious  invaders  in  those  regions  of  Cen- 
tral America,  the  architectural  remains  of  which  now 
supply  us  with  the  most  pleasing  monuments  of  Indian 


T66  CIVILIZATION   OF    THE    /.YC.IS. 

civilization.  It  is  with  this  more  polished  race,  to 
whom  the  Peruvians  seem  to  have  borne  some  resem- 
blance in  their  mental  and  moral  organization,  that 
they  should  be  compared.  Had  the  empire  of  the 
Incas  been  permitted  to  extend  itself  with  the  rapid 
strides  with  which  it  was  advancing  at  the  period  of 
the  Spanish  conquest,  the  two  races  might  have  come 
into  conflict,  or  perhaps  into  alliance,  with  one  another. 
The  Mexicans  and  Peruvians,  so  different  in  the 
character  of  their  peculiar  civilization,  were,  it  seems 
probable,  ignorant  of  each  other's  existence ;  and  it 
may  appear  singular  that,  during  the  simultaneous  con- 
tinuance of  their  empires,  some  of  the  seeds  of  science 
and  of  art  which  pass  so  imperceptibly  from  one  people 
to  another  should  not  have  found  their  way  across  the 
interval  which  separated  the  two  nations.  They  furnish 
an  interesting  example  of  the  opposite  directions  which 
the  human  mind  may  take  in  its  struggle  to  emerge 
from  darkness  into  the  light  of  civilization.* 


*  [Professor  Daniel  Wilson,  commenting  on  this  passage,  remarks 
that,  "  whilst  there  seems  little  room  for  doubt  that  those  two  nations 
were  ignorant  of  each  other  at  the  period  of  the  discovery  of  America, 
there  are  many  indications  in  some  of  their  arts  of  an  earlier  inter- 
course between  the  northern  and  southern  continent."  (Prehistoric 
Man,  2d  edition,  p.  285.)  This  supposition  is  connected  with  a  theory 
put  forward  by  the  learned  writer  in  regard  to  the  aboriginal  popula- 
tion of  America.  Rejecting  the  common  opinion  of  its  ethnical  unity, 
he  considers  the  indications  as  pointing  to  two,  or  possibly  three,  great 
divisions  of  race,  with  as  many  distinct  lines  of  immigration.  He  con- 
ceives "  the  earliest  current  of  population"  from  "  a  supposed  Asiatic 
cradle  land"  "  to  have  spread  through  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  and 
to  have  reached  the  South  American  continent  long  before  an  excess 
of  Asiatic  population  had  diffused  itself  into  its  own  inhospitable 
northern  steppes.  By  an  Atlantic  Ocean  migration,  another  wave  of 


CONCLUDING    REFLECTIONS.  167 

A  closer  resemblance — as  I  have  more  than  once 
taken  occasion  to  notice — may  be  found  between  the 
Peruvian  institutions  and  some  of  the  despotic  gov- 
ernments of  Eastern  Asia;  those  governments  where 
despotism  appears  in  its  more  mitigated  form,  and  the 
whole  people,  under  the  patriarchal  sway  of  the  sove- 
reign, seem  to  be  gathered  together  like  the  members 
of  one. vast  family.  Such  were  the  Chinese,  for  ex- 
ample, whom  the  Peruvians  resembled  in  their  implicit 
obedience  to  authority,  their  mild  yet  somewhat  stub- 
born temper,  their  solicitude  for  forms,  their  reverence 
for  ancient  usage,  their  skill  in  the  minuter  manufac- 

population  occupied  the  Canaries,  Madeira,  and  the  Azores,  and  so 
passed  to  the  Antilles,  Central  America,  and  probably  by  the  Cape 
Verdes,  or,  guided  by  the  more  southern  equatorial  current,  to  Brazil. 
Latest  of  all,  Behring  Straits  and  the  North  Pacific  Islands  may 
have  become  the  highway  for  a  northern  migration  by  which  certain 
striking  diversities  of  nations  of  the  northern  continent,  including  the 
conquerors  of  the  Mexican  plateau,  are  most  easily  accounted  for." 
( Ibid.,  p.  604.)  "  The  north  and  south  tropics  were  the  centres  of  two 
distinct  and  seemingly  independent  manifestations  of  native  develop- 
ment," but  with  "  clear  indications  of  an  overlapping  of  two  or  more 
distinct  migratory  trails  leading  from  opposite  points."  (Ibid.,  p.  602.) 
It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  novelty  of  this  theory  consists,  not  in  any 
new  suggestion  to  account  for  the  original  settlement  of  America,  but 
in  the  adoption  and  symmetrical  blending  of  various  conjectures,  and 
the  application  of  them  to  explain  the  differences  of  physical  charac- 
teristics, customs,  development,  etc.,  between  the  savage  and  civilized 
or  semi-civilized  nations  scattered  over  the  continent.  The  evidence 
offered  in  its  support  does  not  admit  of  being  summarized  here.  Elab- 
orate as  it  is,  it  will  scarcely  be  considered  sufficient  to  establish  the 
certainty  of  the  general  conclusions  deduced  by  the  author.  On  the 
other  hand,  his  arguments  in  disproof  of  a  supposed  craniological 
uniformity  of  type  among  the  American  aborigines  appear  to  be 
irresistible,  and  to  justify  the  statement  that  "  the  form  of  the  human 
skull  is  just  as  little  constant  among  different  tribes  or  races  of  the  Nev» 
World  as  of  the  Old."  (Ibid.,  p.  483.)— ED.] 


1 68  CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    INC  AS. 

tures,  their  imitative  rather  than  inventive  cast  of  mind, 
and  their  invincible  patience,  which  serves  instead  of 
a  more  adventurous  spirit  for  the  execution  of  difficult 
undertakings.34 

A  still  closer  analogy  may  be  found  with  the  natives 
of  Hindostan  in  their  division  into  castes,  their  worship 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  and  the  elements  of  nature,  and 
their  acquaintance  with  the  scientific  principles  of  hus- 
bandry. To  the  ancient  Egyptians,  also,  they  bore 
considerable  resemblance  in  the  same  particulars,  as 
well  as  in  those  ideas  of  a  future  existence  which  led 
them  to  attach  so  much  importance  to  the  permanent 
preservation  of  the  body. 

But  we  shall  look  in  vain  in  the  history  of  the  East 
for  a  parallel  to  the  absolute  control  exercised  by  the 
Incas  over  their  subjects.  In  the  East,  this  was  founded 
on  physical  power, — on  the  external  resources  of  the 
government.  The  authority  of  the  Inca  might  be  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  Pope  in  the  day  of  his  might, 
when  Christendom  trembled  at  the  thunders  of  the 
Vatican,  and  the  successor  of  St.  Peter  set  his  foot  on 
the  necks  of  princes.  But  the  authority  of  the  Pope 
was  founded  on  opinion.  His  temporal  power  was 
nothing.  The  empire  of  the  Incas  rested  on  both.  It 
was  a  theocracy  more  potent  in  its  operations  than  that 
of  the  Jews ;  for,  though  the  sanction  of  the  law  might 

34  Count  Carli  has  amused  himself  with  tracing  out  the  different 
points  of  resemblance  between  the  Chinese  and  the  Peruvians.  The 
Emperor  of  China  was  styled  the  son  of  Heaven  or  of  the  Sun.  He 
also  held  a  plough  once  a  year  in  presence  of  his  people,  to  show  his 
respect  for  agriculture.  And  the  solstices  and  equinoxes  were  noted, 
to  determine  the  periods  of  their  religious  festivals.  The  coincidences 
are  curious.  Lettres  Americaines,  torn.  ii.  pp.  7,  8. 


CONCLUDING    REFLECTIONS.  X6$ 

be  as  great  among  the  latter,  the  law  was  expounded 
by  a  human  lawgiver,  the  servant  and  representative 
of  Divinity.  But  the  Inca  was  both  the  lawgiver  and 
the  law.  He  was  not  merely  the  representative  of 
Divinity,  or,  like  the  Pope,  its  vicegerent,  but  he  was 
Divinity  itself.  The  violation  of  his  ordinance  was 
sacrilege.  Never  was  there  a  scheme  of  government 
enforced  by  such  terrible  sanctions,  or  which  bore  so 
oppressively  on  the  subjects  of  it.  For  it  reached  not 
only  to  the  visible  acts,  but  to  the  private  conduct,  the 
words,  the  very  thoughts,  of  its  vassals. 

It  added  not  a  little  to  the  efficacy  of  the  govern- 
ment that  below  the  sovereign  there  was  an  order  of 
hereditary  nobles  of  the  same  divine  original  with  him- 
self, who,  placed  far  below  himself,  were  still  immeas- 
urably above  the  rest  of  the  community,  not  merely  by 
descent,  but,  as  it  would  seem,  by  their  intellectual 
nature.  These  were  the  exclusive  depositaries  of  power, 
and,  as  their  long  hereditary  training  made  them  famil- 
iar with  their  vocation  and  secured  them  implicit  defer- 
ence from  the  multitude,  they  became  the  prompt  and 
well-practised  agents  for  carrying  out  the  executive 
measures  of  the  administration.  All  that  occurred 
throughout  the  wide  extent  of  his  empire — such  was  the 
perfect  system  of  communication — passed  in  review,  as 
it  were,  before  the  eyes  of  the  monarch,  and  a  thousand 
hands,  armed  with  irresistible  authority,  stood  ready  in 
every  quarter  to  do  his  bidding.  Was  it  not,  as  we 
have  said,  the  most  oppressive,  though  the  mildest,  of 
despotisms  ? 

It  was  the  mildest,  from  the  very  circumstance  that 
the  transcendent  rank  of  the  sovereign,  and  the  humble, 
Peru. — VOL.  I. — H  15 


T70 


CIVILIZATION  OF    THE    tNCAS. 


nay,  superstitious,  devotion  to  his  will,  made  it  super- 
fluous to  assert  this  will  by  acts  of  violence  or  rigor. 
The  great  mass  of  the  people  may  have  appeared  to 
his  eyes  as  but  little  removed  above  the  condition  of 
the  brute,  formed  to  minister  to  his  pleasures.  But 
from  their  very  helplessness  he  regarded  them  with 
feelings  of  commiseration,  like  those  which  a  kind 
master  might  feel  for  the  poor  animals  committed  to 
his  charge,  or — to  do  justice  to  the  beneficent  character 
attributed  to  many  of  the  Incas — that  a  parent  might 
feel  for  his  young  and  impotent  offspring.  The  laws 
were  carefully  directed  to  their  preservation  and  per- 
sonal comfort.  The  people  were  not  allowed  to  be 
employed  on  works  pernicious  to  their  health,  nor  to 
pine — a  sad  contrast  to  their  subsequent  destinv  — 
under  the  imposition  of  tasks  too  heavy  for  their 
powers.  They  were  never  made  the  victims  of  public 
or  private  extortion  ;  and  a  benevolent  forecast  watched 
carefully  over  their  necessities  and  provided  for  their 
relief  in  seasons  of  infirmity  and  for  their  sustenance 
in  health.  The  government  of  the  Incas,  however 
arbitrary  in  form,  was  in  its  spirit  truly  patriarchal. 

Yet  in  this  there  was  nothing  cheering  to  the  dignity 
of  human  nature.  What  the  people  had  was  conceded 
as  a  boon,  not  as  a  right.  When  a  nation  was  brought 
under  the  sceptre  of  the  Incas,  it  resigned  every  per- 
sonal right,  even  the  rights  dearest  to  humanity.  Under 
this  extraordinary  polity,  a  people  advanced  in  many 
of  the  social  refinements,  well  skilled  in  manufactures 
and  agriculture,  were  unacquainted,  as  we  have  seen, 
with  money.  They  had  nothing  that  deserved  to  be 
called  property.  They  could  follow  no  craft,  could 


COXCLL;I>L\\;  REFLECTIONS.  171 

engage  in  no  labor,  no  amusement,  but  such  as  was 
specially  provided  by  law.  They  could  not  change 
their  residence  or  their  dress  without  a  license  from  the 
government.  They  could  not  even  exercise  the  freedom 
which  is  conceded  to  the  most  abject  in  other  countries, 
—that  of  selecting  their  own  wives.  The  imperative 
spirit  of  despotism  would  not  allow  them  to  be  happy 
or  miserable  in  any  way  but  that  established  by  law. 
The  power  of  free  agency — the  inestimable  and  inborn 
right  of  every  human  being — was  annihilated  in  Peru. 

The  astonishing  mechanism  of  the  Peruvian  polity 
could  have  resulted  only  from  the  combined  authority 
of  opinion  and  positive  power  in  the  ruler  to  an  extent 
unprecedented  in  the  history  of  man.  Yet  that  it 
should  have  so  successfully  gone  into  operation,  and 
so  long  endured,  in  opposition  to  the  taste,  the  preju- 
dices, and  the  very  principles  of  our  nature,  is  a  strong 
proof  of  a  generally  wise  and  temperate  administration 
of  the  government. 

The  policy  habitually  pursued  by  the  Incas  for  the 
prevention  of  evils  that  might  have  disturbed  the  order 
of  things  is  well  exemplified  in  their  provisions  against 
poverty  and  idleness.  In  these  they  rightly  discerned 
the  two  great  causes  of  disaffection  in  a  populous  com- 
munity. The  industry  of  the  people  was  secured  not 
only  by  their  compulsory  occupations  at  home,  but  by 
their  employment  on  those  great  public  works  which 
covered  every  part  of  the  country,  and  which  still  bear 
testimony  in  their  decay  to  their  primitive  grandeur. 
Yet  it  may  well  astonish  us  to  find  that  the  natural 
difficulty  of  these  undertakings,  sufficiently  great  in 
itself,  considering  the  imperfection  of  their  tools  and 


,72  CIVILIZATION   OF    THE    INC  AS. 

machinery,  was  inconceivably  enhanced  by  the  politic 
contrivance  of  the  government.  The  royal  edifices  of 
Quito,  we  are  assured  by  the  Spanish  conquerors,  were 
constructed  of  huge  masses  of  stone,  many  of  which 
were  carried  all  the  way  along  the  mountain-roads  from 
Cuzco,  a  distance  of  several  hundred  leagues.35  The 
great  square  of  the  capital  was  filled  to  a  considerable 
depth  with  mould  brought  with  incredible  labor  up  the 
steep  slopes  of  the  Cordilleras  from  the  distant  shores 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean.3*  Labor  was  regarded  not  only 
as  a  means,  but  as  an  end,  by  the  Peruvian  law. 

as  "  Era  muy  principal  intento  que  la  gente  no  holgase,  que  dava 
causa  a  que  despues  que  los  Ingas  estuvieron  en  paz  hacer  traer  de 
Quito  al  Cuzco  piedra  que  venia  de  provincia  en  provincia  para  hacer 
casas  para  si  6  pa  el  Sol  en  gran  cantidad,  y  del  Cuzco  llevalla  a  Quito 
pa  el  mismo  efecto,  .  .  .  y  asi  destas  cosas  hacian  los  Ingas  muchas 
de  poco  provecho  y  de  escesivo  travajo  en  que  traian  ocupadas  las 
provincias  ordinariamte,  y  en  fin  el  travajo  era  causa  de  su  conserva- 
cion."  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. — Also  Antig.  y  Monumentos  del 
Peru,  MS. 

3s  This  was  literally  gold  dust ;  for  Ondegardo  states  that,  when 
governor  of  Cuzco,  he  caused  great  quantities  of  gold  vessels  and 
ornaments  to  be  disinterred  from  the  sand  in  which  they  had  been  se- 
creted by  the  natives  :  "  Que  toda  aquella  plaza  del  Cuzco  le  sacaron 
la  tierra  propia,  y  se  llevo  a  otras  partes  por  cosa  de  gran  estima,  e  la 
hincheron  de  arena  de  la  costa  de  la  mar,  como  hasta  dos  palmos  y 
medio  en  algunas  partes,  mas  sembraron  por  toda  ella  muchos  vasos 
de  oro  £  plata,  y  hovejuelas  y  hombrecillos  pequenos  de  lo  mismo,  lo 
cual  se  ha  sacado  en  mucha  cantidad,  que  todo  lo  hemos.visto  ;  desta 
arena  estaba  toda  la  plaza,  quando  yo  fui  d  governar  aquella  Ciudad  ; 
e  si  fue  verdad  que  aquella  se  trajo  de  ellos,  afirman  e  tienen  puestos 
en  sus  registros,  paresceme  que  sea  ansi,  que  toda  la  tierra  junta  tubo 
necesidad  de  entender  en  ello,  por  que  la  plaza  es  grande,  y  no  tiene 
numero  las  cargas  que  en  ella  entraron  ;  y  la  costa  por  lo  mas  cerca 
esta  mas  de  nobenta  leguas  d  lo  que  creo,  y  cierto  yo  me  satisfice, 
porque  todos  dicen,  que  aquel  genero  de  arena,  no  lo  hay  hasta  la 
costa."  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. 


COA'CL  L'DIXC    K  1:1-1.  ECTK  MX 


'73 


With  their  manifold  provisions  against  poverty  the 
reader  has  already  been  made  acquainted.  They  were 
so  perfect  that  in  their  wide  extent  of  territory — much 
of  it  smitten  with  the  curse  of  barrenness — no  man, 
however  humble,  suffered  for  the  want  of  food  and 
clothing.  Famine,  so  common  a  scourge  in  every 
other  American  nation,  so  common  at  that  period  in 
every  country  of  civilized  Europe,  was  an  evil  unknown 
in  the  dominions  of  the  Incas. 

The  most  enlightened  of  the  Spaniards  who  first 
visited  Peru,  struck  with  the  general  appearance  of 
plenty  and  prosperity,  and  with  the  astonishing  order 
with  which  every  thing  throughout  the  country  was 
regulated,  are  loud  in  their  expressions  of  admiration. 
No  better  government,  in  their  opinion,  could  have 
been  devised  for  the  people.  Contented  with  Ujeir 
condition,  and  free  from  vice,  to  borrow  the  language 
of  an  eminent  authority  of  that  early  day,  the  mild 
and  docile  character  of  the  Peruvians  would  have  well 
fitted  them  to  receive  the  teachings  of  Christianity, 
had  the  love  of  conversion,  instead  of  gold,  animated 
the  breasts  of  the  Conquerors.37  And  a  philosopher 

37  "  Y  si  Dios  permitiera  que  tubieran  quien  con  celo  de  Cristiandad, 
y  no  con  ramo  de  codicia,  en  lo  pasado,  les  dieran  entera  noticia  de 
nuestra  sagrada  Religion,  era  gente  en  que  bien  imprimiera,  segun 
vemos  por  lo  que  ahora  con  la  buena  orden  que  hay  se  obra."  Sar- 
miento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  22. — But  the  most  emphatic  testimony  to 
the  merits  of  the  people  is  that  afforded  by  Mancio  Sierra  Lejesema, 
the  last  survivor  of  the  early  Spanish  Conquerors,  who  settled  in  Peru. 
In  the  preamble  to  his  testament,  made,  as  he  states^  to  relieve  his 
conscience,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  he  declares  that  the  whole  popula-' 
lion,  under  the  Incas,  was  distinguished  by  sobriety  and  industry  ;  that 
such  things  as  robbery  and  theft  were  unknown  ;  that,  far  from  licen- 
tiousness, there  was  not  even  a  prostitute  in  the  country ;  and  tha» 
IS* 


I74  CtVILKATIOX   OF    TUT.    IXC  AS. 

of  a  later  time,  warmed  by  the  contemplation  of  the 
picture — which  his  own  fancy  had  colored — of  public 
prosperity  and  private  happiness  under  the  rule  of  the 
Incas,  pronounces  "  the  moral  man  in  Peru  far  superior 
to  the  Europeans."38 

Yet  such  results  are  scarcely  reconcilable  with  the 
theory  of  the  government  I  have  attempted  to  analyze. 
Where  there  is  no  free  agency  there  can  be  no  morality. 
Where  there  is  no  temptation  there  can  be  little  claim 
to  virtue.  Where  the  routine  is  rigorously  prescribed 
by  law,  the  law,  and  not  the  man,  must  have  the  credit 
of  the  conduct.  If  that  government  is  the  best  which 
is  felt  the  least,  which  encroaches  on  the  natural  liberty 
of  the  subject  only  so  far  as  is  essential  to  civil  subor- 
dination, then  of  all  governments  devised  by  man  the 
Peruvian  has  the  least  real  claim  to  our  admiration. 

It  is  not  easy  to  comprehend  the  genius  and  the  full 
import  of  institutions  so  opposite  to  those  of  our  own 
free  republic,  where  every  man,  however  humble  his 
condition,  may  aspire  to  the  highest  honors  of  the 
state, — may  select  his  own  career  and  carve  out  his 
fortune  in  his  own  way ;  where  the  light  of  knowledge, 


every  thing  was  conducted  with  the  greatest  order,  and  entire  submis- 
sion to  authority.  The  panegyric  is  somewhat  too  unqualified  for  a 
whole  nation,  and  may  lead  one  to  suspect  that  the  stings  of  remorse 
for  his  own  treatment  of  the  natives  goaded  the  dying  veteran  into  a 
higher  estimate  of  their  deserts  than  was  strictly  warranted  by  facts. 
Yet  this  testimony  by  such  a  man  at  such  a  time  is  too  remarkable,  as 
well  as  too  honorable  to  the  Peruvians,  to  be  passed  over  in  silence  by 
the  historian  ;  and  I  have  transferred  the  document  in  the  original  to 
Appendix  No.  4. 

38  "  Sans  doute  1'homme  moral  du  Perou  etoit  infin'itnent  plus  per- 
•ectionne  que  1'Europeen."  Carli,  Lettres  Americaines,  torn.  i.  p.  215 


CONCL UDIXG    REFLECTIONS. 


'75 


instead  of  being  concentrated  on  a  chosen  few,  is  shed 
abroad  like  the  light  of  day,  and  suffered  to  fall  equally 
on  the  poor  and  the  rich  ;  where  the  collision  of  man 
with  man  wakens  a  generous  emulation  that  calls  out 
latent  talent  and  tasks  the  energies  to  the  utmost ; 
where  consciousness  of  independence  gives  a  feeling 
of  self-reliance  unknown  to  the  timid  subjects  of  a 
despotism  ;  where,  in  short,  the  government  is  made 
for  man, — not  as  in  Peru,  where  man  seemed  to  be 
made  only  for  the  government.  The  New  World  is 
the  theatre  on  which  these  two  political  systems,  so 
opposite  in  their  character,  have  been  carried  into 
operation.  The  empire  of  the  Incas  has  passed  away 
and  left  no  trace.  The  other  great  experiment  is 
still  going  on, — the  experiment  which  is  to  solve  the 
problem,  so  long  contested  in  the  Old  World,  of  the 
capacity  of  man  for  self-government.  Alas  for  hu- 
manity, if  it  should  fail ! 

The  testimony  of  the  Spanish  conquerors  is  not  uni- 
form in  respect  to  the  favorable  influence  exerted  by 
the  Peruvian  institutions  on  the  character  of  the  people. 
Drinking  and  dancing  are  said  to  have  been  the  pleas- 
ures to  which  they  were  immoderately  addicted.  Like 
the  slaves  and  serfs  in  other  lands,  whose  position  ex- 
cluded them  from  more  serious  and  ennobling  occupa- 
tions, they  found  a  substitute  in  frivolous  or  sensual 
indulgence.  Lazy,  luxurious,  and  licentious,  are  the 
epithets  bestowed  on  them  by  one  of  those  who  saw 
them  at  the  Conquest,  but  whose  pen  was  not  too 
friendly  to  the  Indian.39  Yet  the  spirit  of  independ- 

»  "  Reran  muy  dados  4  la  lujuria  y  al  bever,  tenian  acceso  carnal 
con  las  hermanas  y  las  mugeres  de  sus  padres  como  no  fuesen  sus 


176  CIVILIZATION   OF    THE    INC  AS. 

ence  could  hardly  be  strong  in  a  people  who  had  no 
interest  in  the  soil,  no  personal  rights  to  defend ;  and 
the  facility  with  which  they  yielded  to  the  Spanish 
invader — after  every  allowance  for  their  comparative 
inferiority — argues  a  deplorable  destitution  of  that 
patriotic  feeling  which  holds  life  as  little  in  comparison 
with  freedom. 

But  we  must  not  judge  too  hardly  of  the  unfortunate 
native  because  he  quailed  before  the  civilization  of  the 
European.  We  must  not  be  insensible  to  the  really 
great  results  that  were  achieved  by  the  government  of 
the  Incas.  We  must  not  forget  that  under  their  rule  the 
meanest  of  the  people  enjoyed  a  far  greater  degree  of 
personal  comfort,  at  least  a  greater  exemption  from 
physical  suffering,  than  was  possessed  by  similar  classes 
in  other  nations  on  the  American  continent, — greater, 
probably,  than  was  possessed  by  these  classes  in  most 
of  the  countries  of  feudal  Europe.  Under  their  sceptre 
the  higher  orders  of  the  state  had  made  advances  in 
many  of  the  arts  that  belong  to  a  cultivated  community. 
The  foundations  of  a  regular  government  were  laid, 
which,  in  an  age  of  rapine,  secured  to  its  subjects  the 
inestimable  blessings  of  tranquillity  and  safety.  By  the 
well-sustained  policy  of  the  Incas,  the  rude  tribes  of 

mismas  madres,  y  aun  algunos  avia  que  con  ellas  mismas  lo  hacian  y 
ansi  mismo  con  sus  hijas.  Estando  borrachos  tocavan  algunos  en  el 
pecado  nefando,  emborrachavanse  muy  a  menudo,  y  estando  borra- 
chos todo  lo  que  el  demonio  les  traia  a  la  voluntad  hacian.  Heran 
estos  orejones  muy  soberbios  y  presuntuosos.  .  .  .  Tenian  otras  muchas 
maldades  que  por  ser  muchas  no  las  digo."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub. 
y  Conq.,  MS. — These  random  aspersions  of  the  hard  conqueror  show 
too  gross  an  ignorance  of  the  institutions  of  the  people  to  merit  much 
confidence  as  to  what  is  said  of  their  character. 


SAKMIENTO. 


177 


the  forest  were  gradually  drawn  from  their  fastnesses  and 
gathered  within  the  folds  of  civilization ;  and  of  these 
materials  was  constructed  a  flourishing  and  populous 
empire,  such  as  was  to  be  found  in  no  other  quarter  of 
the  American  continent.  The  defects  of  this  govern- 
ment were  those  of  over-refinement  in  legislation, — 
the  last  defects  to  have  been  looked  for,  certainly,  in 
the  American  aborigines. 


NOTE. — I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  swell  this  Introduction 
by  an  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  Peruvian  civilization,  like  that  ap- 
pended to  the  history  of  the  Mexican.  The  Peruvian  history  doubt- 
less suggests  analogies  with  more  than  one  nation  in  the  East,  some 
of  which  have  been  briefly  adverted  to  in  the  preceding  pages ;  al- 
though these  analogies  are  adduced  there  not  as  evidence  of  a  com- 
mon origin,  but  as  showing  the  coincidences  which  might  naturally 
spring  up  among  different  nations  under  the  same  phase  of  civiliza- 
tion. Such  coincidences  are  neither  so  numerous  nor  so  striking  as 
those  afforded  by  the  Aztec  history.  The  correspondence  presented 
by  the  astronomical  science  of  the  Mexicans  is  alone  of  more  impor- 
tance than  all  the  rest.  Yet  the  light  of  analogy  afforded  by  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  Incas  seems  to  point,  as  far  as  it  goes,  towards  the 
same  direction  ;  and  as  the  investigation  could  present  but  little  sub- 
stantially to  confirm,  and  still  less  to  confute,  the  views  taken  in  the 
former  disquisition,  I  have  not  thought  it  best  to  fatigue  the  reader 
with  it. 

Two  of  the  prominent  authorities  on  whom  I  have  relied  in  this 
Introductory  portion  of  the  work  are  Juan  de  Sarmiento  and  the 
Licentiate  Ondegardo.  Of  the  former  I  have  been  able  to  collect  no 
information  beyond  what  is  afforded  by  his  own  writings.  In  the  title 
prefixed  to  his  manuscript  he  is  styled  President  of  the  Council  of 
the  Indies,  a  post  of  high  authority,  which  infers  a  weight  of  charac- 
ter and  means  of  information  that  entitle  his  opinions  on  colonial 
topics  to  great  deference. 

These  means  of  information  were  much  enlarged  by  Sarmiento's 
visit  to  the  colonies  during  the  administration  of  Gasca.  Having  con- 
H* 


178  SARMIENTO. 

ceived  the  design  of  compiling  a  history  of  the  ancient  Peruvian  institu- 
tions, he  visited  Cuzco,  as  he  tells  us,  in  1550,  and  there  drew  from 
the  natives  themselves  the  materials  for  his  narrative.  His  position 
gave  him  access  to  the  most  authentic  sources  of  knowledge,  and  from 
the  lips  of  the  Inca  nobles,  the  best-instructed  of  the  conquered  race, 
he  gathered  the  traditions  of  their  national  history  and  institutions. 
The  quipus  formed,  as  we  have  seen,  an  imperfect  system  of  mnemon- 
ics, requiring  constant  attention,  and  much  inferior  to  the  Mexican 
hieroglyphics.  It  was  only  by  diligent  instruction  that  they  were 
made  available  to  historical  purposes ;  and  this  instruction  was  so  far 
neglected  after  the  Conquest  that  the  ancient  annals  of  the  country 
would  have  perished  with  the  generation  which  was  the  sole  depositary 
of  them,  had  it  not  been  for  the  efforts  of  a  few  intelligent  scholars, 
like  Sarmiento,  who  saw  the  importance,  at  this  critical  period,  of  cul- 
tivating an  intercourse  with  the  natives  and  drawing  from  them  their 
hidden  stores  of  information. 

To  give  still  further  authenticity  to  this  work.  Sarmiento  travelled 
over  the  country,  examined  the  principal  objects  of  interest  with  his 
own  eyes,  and  thus  verified  the  accounts  of  the  natives  as  far  as  pos- 
sible by  personal  observation.  The  result  of  these  labors  was  his  work 
entitled  "  Relacion  de  la  sucesion  y  govierno  de  las  Yngas  Senores 
naturales  que  fueron  de  las  Provincias  del  Peru  y  otras  cosas  tocantes 
&  aquel  Reyno,  para  el  Iltmo.  Senor  Dn  Juan  Sarmiento,  Presidente 
del  Consejo  R1  de  Indias."» 


*[It  is  singular  that  Prescott  should  have  fallen  into  the  error  of 
supposing  this  language  to  indicate  that  the  work  was  the  composition 
of  the  person  whose  name  appears  on  the  title.  Senor  Gayangos,  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Squier  which  that  gentleman  has  kindly  communicated 
to  the  editor,  says,  "  It  is  evident  to  me  that  this  Relation  was  written 
— perhaps  by  order  of  Don  Juan  Sarmiento,  president  of  the  Council 
of  the  Indies— -for  him,  and  not  by  him,  as  stated  by  Prescott ;"  and 
he  points  out  the  improbability  of  Sarmiento's  ever  having  visited 
America,  as  well  as  of  his  having  used  the  deferential  tone  in  which 
the  author  of  the  manuscript  addresses  certain  members  of  the  Royal 
Audience,  persons  far  inferior  in  rank  to  an  ecclesiastic  of  high  position 
holding  one  of  the  first  offices  in  the  kingdom.  The  mistake  was  so 
far  fortunate  that  the  doubts  suggested  by  it  seem  to  have  led  to  an 
investigation,  with  the  result  of  determining  the  real  authorship  of  this 


SARMIENTO.  !  79 

»t  is  divided  into  chapters,  and  embraces  about  four  hundred  folio 
pages  in  manuscript.  The  introductory  portion  of  the  work  is  occu- 
pied with  the  traditionary  tales  of  the  origin  and  early  period  of  the 
Incas  ;  teeming,  as  usual  in  the  antiquities  of  a  barbarous  people,  with 
legendary  fables  of  the  most  wild  and  monstrous  character.  Yet  these 
puerile  conceptions  afford  an  inexhaustible  mine  for  the  labors  of  the 
antiquarian,  who  endeavors  to  unravel  the  allegorical  web  which  a 
cunning  priesthood  had  devised  as  symbolical  of  those  mysteries  of 
creation  that  it  was  beyond  their  power  to  comprehend.  But  Sarmi- 
ento  happily  confines  himself  to  the  mere  statement  of  traditional 
fables,  without  the  chimerical  ambition  to  explain  them. 

From  this  region  of  romance  Sarmiento  passes  to  the  institutions 
of  the  Peruvians,  describes  their  ancient  polity,  their  religon,  their 
progress  in  the  arts,  especially  agriculture,  and  presents,  in  short,  an 
elaborate  picture  of  the  civilization  which  they  reached  under  the  Inca 
dynasty.  This  part  of  his  work,  resting,  as  it  does,  on  the  best  author- 
ity, confirmed  in  many  instances  by  his  own  observation,  is  of  unques- 
tionable value,  and  is  written  with  an  apparent  respect  for  truth,  that 
engages  the  confidence  of  the  reader.  The  concluding  portion  of  the 
manuscript  is  occupied  with  the  civil  history  of  the  country.  The 
reigns  of  the  early  Incas,  which  lie  beyond  the  sober  province  of 
history,  he  despatches  with  commendable  brevity.  But  on  the  three 
last  reigns — fortunately,  those  of  the  greatest  princes  who  occupied 
the  Peruvian  throne — he  is  more  diffuse.  This  was  comparatively 
firm  ground  for  the  chronicler,  for  the  events  were  too  recent  to  be 
obscured  by  the  vulgar  legends  that  gather  like  moss  round  every 


important  Relation,  and  of  clearing  up,  at  the  same  time,  another 
mooted  and  not  less  interesting  point  in  regard  to  one  of  the  chief 
authorities  for  early  Peruvian  history.  Senor  Gonzalez  de  la  Rosa,  a 
learned  Peruvian,  is  able,  according  to  a  recent  statement  (London 
Athenaeum,  July  5,  1873),  "  to  prove  that  the  manuscript  in  question 
is  really  the  second  part  of  the  '  Chronicle  of  Peru'  by  Cieza  de  Leon, 
hitherto  supposed  to  be  lost."  The  evidence  promised  has  not  yet 
been  adduced.  It  consists,  no  doubt,  chiefly  of  those  internal  proofs 
which  are  in  fact  sufficient  to  put  the  matter  beyond  question,  and 
which  will  find  more  appropriate  mention  in  connection  with  Pres- 
cott's  account  of  the  life  and  writings  of  Cieza  de  Leon,  infra,  vol.  uV 
book  iv.,  chap.  9.— ED.] 


jgo  SARMIENTO. 

incident  of  the  older  time.  His  account  stops  with  the  Spanish  in- 
vasion ;  for  this  story,  Sarmiento  felt,  might  be  safely  left  to  his  con- 
temporaries who  acted  a  part  in  it,  but  whose  taste  and  education  had 
qualified  them  but  indifferently  for  exploring  the  antiquities  and  social 
institutions  of  the  natives. 

Sarmiento's  work  is  composed  in  a  simple,  perspicuous  style,  with- 
out that  ambition  of  rhetorical  display  too  common  with  his  country- 
men. He  writes  with  honest  candor,  and,  while  he  does  ample  justice 
to  the  merits  and  capacities  of  the  conquered  races,  he  notices  with 
indignation  the  atrocities  of  the  Spaniards  and  the  demoralizing  tend- 
ency of  the  Conquest.  It  may  be  thought,  indeed,  that  he  forms  too 
high  an  estimate  of  the  attainments  of  the  nation  under  the  Incas.' 
And  it  is  not  improbable  that,  astonished  by  the  vestiges  it  afforded 
of  an  original  civilization,  he  became  enamored  of  his  subject,  and 
thus  exhibited  it  in  colors  somewhat  too  glowing  to  the  eye  of  the 
European.  But  this  was  an  amiable  failing,  not  too  largely  shared  by 
the  stern  Conquerors,  who  subverted  the  institutions  of  the  country, 
and  saw  little  to  admire  in  it  save  its  gold.  It  must  be  further  ad- 
mitted that  Sarmiento  has  no  design  to  impose  on  his  reader,  and  that 
he  is  careful  to  distinguish-between  what  he  reports  on  hearsay  and 
what  on  personal  experience.  The  Father  of  History  himself  does 
not  discriminate  between  these  two  things  more  carefully. 

Neither  is  the  Spanish  historian  to  be  altogether  vindicated  from 
the  superstition  which  belongs  to  his  time ;  and  we  often  find  him 
referring  to  the  immediate  interposition  of  Satan  those  effects  which 
might  quite  as  well  be  charged  on  the  perverseness  of  man.  But  this 
was  common  to  the  age,  and  to  the  wisest  men  in  it ;  and  it  is  too 
much  to  demand  of  a  man  to  be  wiser  than  his  generation.  It  is 
sufficient  praise  of  Sarmiento,  that,  in  an  age  when  superstition  was 
too  often  allied  with  fanaticism,  he  seems  to  have  had  no  tincture  of 
bigotry  in  his  nature.  His  heart  opens  with  benevolent  fulness  to  the 
unfortunate  native  ;  and  his  language,  while  it  is  not  kindled  into  the 
religious  glow  of  the  missionary,  is  warmed  by  a  generous  ray  of  phi- 
lanthropy that  embraces  the  conquered,  no  less  than  the  conquerors, 
as  his  brethren. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  value  of  Sarmiento's  work  for  the  in- 
formation it  affords  of  Peru  under  the  Incas,  it  is  but  little  known,  has 
been  rarely  consulted  by  historians,  and  still  remains  among  the  un- 
published manuscripts  which  lie,  like  uncoined  bullion,  in  the  secret 
chambers  of  the  Escorial. 


ONDEGARDO.  jgi 

The  other  authority  to  whom  I  have  alluded,  the  Licentiate  Polo 
de  Ondegardo,  was  a  highly  respectable  jurist,  whose  name  appears 
frequently  in  the  affairs  of  Peru.  I  find  no  account  of  the  period 
when  he  first  came  into  the  country.  But  he  was  there  on  the  arrival 
of  Gasca,  and  resided  at  Lima  under  the  usurpation  of  Gonzalo  Pi- 
zarro.  When  the  artful  Cepeda  endeavored  to  secure  the  signatures 
of  the  inhabitants  to  the  instrument  proclaiming  the  sovereignty  of 
his  chief,  we  find  Ondegardo  taking  the  lead  among  those  of  his  pro- 
fession in  resisting  it.  On  Gasca's  arrival  he  consented  to  take  a  com- 
mission in  his  army.  At  the  close  of  the  rebellion  he  was  made  cor- 
regidor  of  La  Plata,  and  subsequently  of  Cuzco,  in  which  honorable 
station  he  seems  to  have  remained  several  years.  In  the  exercise  of 
his  magisterial  functions  he  was  brought  into  familiar  intercourse  with 
the  natives,  and  had  ample  opportunity  for  studying  their  laws  and 
ancient  customs.  He  conducted  himself  with  such  prudence  and 
moderation  that  he  seems  to  have  won  the  confidence  not  only  of  his 
countrymen  but  of  the  Indians ;  while  the  administration  was  careful 
to  profit  by  his  large  experience  in  devising  measures  for  the  better 
government  of  the  colony. 

The  Relaciones,  so  often  cited  in  this  History,  were  prepared  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  viceroys,  the  first  being  addressed  to  the  Marques 
de  Canete,  in  1561,  and  the  second,  ten  years  later,  to  the  Conde  de 
Nieva.  The  two  cover  about  as  much  ground  as  Sarmiento's  manu- 
script ;  and  the  second  memorial,  written  so  long  after  the  first,  may 
be  thought  to  intimate  the  advancing  age  of  the  author,  in  the  greater 
carelessness  and  diffuseness  of  the  composition. 

As  these  documents  are  in  the  nature  of  answers  to  the  interroga- 
tories propounded  by  the  government,  the  range  of  topics  might  seem 
to  be  limited  within  narrower  bounds  than  the  modern  historian  would 
desire.  These  queries,  indeed,  had  particular  reference  to  the  revenues, 
the  tributes, — the  financial  administration,  in  short, — of  the  Incas;  and 
on  these  obscure  topics  the  communication  of  Ondegardo  is  particu- 
larly full.  But  the  enlightened  curiosity  of  the  government  embraced 
a  far  wider  range ;  and  the  answers  necessarily  implied  an  acquaintance 
with  the  domestic  policy  of  the  Incas,  with  their  laws  and  social  habits, 
their  religion,  science,  and  arts,  in  short,  with  all  that  make  up  the 
elements  of  civilization.  Ondegardo's  memoirs,  therefore,  cover  the 
whole  ground  of  inquiry  for  the  philosophic  historian. 

In  the  management  of  these  various  subjects  Ondegardo  displays 
both  acuteness  and  erudition.  He  never  shrinks  from  the  discussion. 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  16 


!32  ONDEGARDO. 

however  difficult ;  and  while  he  gives  his  conclusions  with  an  air  of 
modesty,  it  is  evident  that  he  feels  conscious  of  having  derived  his 
information  through  the  most  authentic  channels.  He  rejects  the 
fabulous  with  disdain  ;  decides  on  the  probabilities  of  such  facts  as  he 
relates,  and  candidly  exposes  the  deficiency  of  evidence.  Far  from 
displaying  the  simple  enthusiasm  of  the  well-meaning  but  credulous 
missionary,  he  proceeds  with  the  cool  and  cautious  step  of  a  lawyer 
accustomed  to  the  conflict  of  testimony  and  the  uncertainty  of  oral 
tradition.  This  circumspect  manner  of  proceeding,  and  the  temperate 
character  of  his  judgments,  entitle  Ondegardo  to  much  higher  con- 
sideration as  an  authority  than  most  of  his  countrymen  who  have 
treated  of  Indian  antiquities. 

There  runs  through  his  writings  a  vein  of  humanity,  shown  particu- 
larly in  his  tenderness  to  the  unfortunate  natives,  to  whose  ancient 
civilization  he  does  entire,  but  not  extravagant,  justice;  while,  like 
Sarmiento,  he  fearlessly  denounces  the  excesses  of  his  own  country- 
men, and  admits  the  dark  reproach  they  had  brought  on  the  honor  of 
the  nation.  But  while  this  censure  forms  the  strongest  ground  for 
condemnation  of  the  Conquerors,  since  it  comes  from  the  lips  of  a 
Spaniard  like  themselves,  it  proves,  also,  that  Spain  in  this  age  of  vio- 
lence could  send  forth  from  her  bosom  wise  and  good  men  who  re- 
fused to  make  common  cause  with  the  licentious  rabble  around  them. 
Indeed,  proof  enough  is  given  in  these  very  memorials  of  the  unceas- 
ing efforts  of  the  colonial  government,  from  the  good  viceroy  Mendoza 
downwards,  to  secure  protection  and  the  benefit  of  a  mild  legislation 
to  the  unfortunate  natives.  But  the  iron  Conquerors,  and  the  colonist 
whose  heart  softened  only  to  the  touch  of  gold,  presented  a  formidable 
barrier  to  improvement. 

Ondegardo's  writings  are  honorably  distinguished  by  freedom  from 
that  superstition  which  is  the  debasing  characteristic  of  the  times, — a 
superstition  shown  in  the  easy  credit  given  to  the  marvellous,  and  this 
equally  whether  in  heathen  or  in  Christian  story ;  for  in  the  former 
the  eye  of  credulity  could  discern  as  readily  the  direct  interposition 
of  Satan,  as  in  the  latter  the  hand  of  the  Almighty.  It  is  this  ready 
belief  in  a  spiritual  agency,  whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  which  forms 
one  of  the  most  prominent  features  in  the  writings  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  Nothing  could  'be  more  repugnant  to  the  true  spirit  of 
philosophical  inquiry,  or  more  irreconcilable  with  rational  criticism. 
Far  from  betraying  such  weakness,  Ondegardo  writes  in  a  direct  and 
business-like  manner,  estimating  things  for  what  they  are  worth  by  the 


ONDEGARDO.  183 

plain  rule  of  common  sense.  He  keeps  the  main  object  of  his  argu- 
ment ever  in  view,  without  allowing  himself,  like  the  garrulous  chron- 
iclers of  the  period,  to  be  led  astray  into  a  thousand  rambling  episodes 
that  bewilder  the  reader  and  lead  to  nothing. 

Ondegardo's  memoirs  deal  not  only  with  the  antiquities  of  the  na- 
tion, but  with  its  actual  condition,  and  with  the  best  means  for  redress- 
ing the  manifold  evils  to  which  it  was  subjected  under  the  stern  rule 
of  its  conquerors.  His  suggestions  are  replete  with  wisdom,  and  a 
merciful  policy,  that  would  reconcile  the  interests  of  government  with 
the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  its  humblest  vassal.  Thus,  while  his 
contemporaries  gathered  light  from  his  suggestions  as  to  the  present 
condition  of  affairs,  the  historian  of  later  times  is  no  less  indebted  to 
him  for  information  in  respect  to  the  past.  His  manuscript  was  freely 
consulted  by  Herrera,  and  the  reader,  as  he  peruses  the  pages  of  the 
learned  historian  of  the  Indies,  is  unconsciously  enjoying  the  benefit 
of  the  researches  of  Ondegardo.  His  valuable  Relaciones  thus  had 
their  uses  for  future  generations,  though  they  have  never  been  ad- 
mitted to  the  honors  of  the  press.  The  copy  in  my  possession,  like 
that  of  Sarmiento's  manuscript,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  that  in- 
dustrious bibliographer  Mr.  Rich,  formed  part  of  the  magnificent 
collection  of  Lord  Kingsborough, — a  name  ever  to  be  held  in  honor 
by  the  scholar  for  his  indefatigable  efforts  to  illustrate  the  antiquities 
of  America. 

Ondegardo's  manuscripts,  it  should  be  remarked,  do  not  bear  his 
signature.  But  they  contain  allusions  to  several  actions  of  the  writer's 
life,  which  identify  them,  beyond  any  reasonable  doubt,  as  his  produc- 
tion. In  the  archives  of  Simancas  is  a  duplicate  copy  of  the  first  me- 
morial, Relation  Primera,  thoueh,  like  the  one  in  the  Escorial,  without 
its  author's  name.  Munoz  assigns  it  to  the  pen  of  Gabriel  de  Rojas, 
a  distinguished  cavalier  of  the  Conquest.  This  is  clearly  an  error ; 
for  the  author  of  the  manuscript  identifies  himself  with  Ondegardo, 
by  declaring,  in  his  reply  to  the  fifth  interrogatory,  that  he  was  the 
person  who  discovered  the  mummies  of  (he  Incas  in  Cuzco, — an  act 
expressly  referred,  both  by  Acosta  and  Garcilasso,  to  the  Licentiate 
Polo  de  Ondegardo,  when  corregidor  of  that  city.  Should  the  savans 
of  Madrid  hereafter  embrace  among  the  publications  of  valuable 
manuscripts  these  Relaciones,  they  should  be  careful  not  to  be  led 
into  an  error  here  by  the  authority  of  a  critic  like  Munoz,  whose 
criticism  is  rarely  at  fault. 


BOOK   SECOND. 

DISCOVERY  OF  PERU. 

16*  (185) 


BOOK  II. 

DISCOVERY  OF  PERU. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  SCIENCE. — ART  OF  NAVIGATION.— 
MARITIME  DISCOVERY. — SPIRIT  OF  THE  SPANIARDS. — 
POSSESSIONS  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD. — RUMORS  CONCERN- 
ING PERU. 

WHATEVER  difference  of  opinion  may  exist  as  to  the 
comparative  merit  of  the  ancients  and  the  moderns  in 
the  arts,  in  poetry,  eloquence,  and  all  that  depends  on 
imagination,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  science  the 
moderns  have  eminently  the  advantage.  It  could  not 
be  otherwise.  In  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  as  in  the 
early  period  of  life,  there  was  the  freshness  of  a  morn- 
ing existence,  when  the  gloss  of  novelty  was  on  every 
thing  that  met  the  eye ;  when  the  senses,  not  blunted 
by  familiarity,  were  more  keenly  alive  to  the  beauti- 
ful, and  the  mind,  under  the  influence  of  a  healthy 
and  natural  taste,  was  not  perverted  by  philosophical 
theory ;  when  the  simple  was  necessarily  connected 
with  the  beautiful,  and  the  epicurean  intellect,  sated 
by  repetition,  had  not  begun  to  seek  for  stimulants  in 
the  fantastic  and  capricious.  The  realms  of  fancy 
were  all  untravelled,  and  its  fairest  flowers  had  not 
been  gathered,  nor  its  beauties  despoiled,  by  the  rude 


T88  DISCOVERY    OF  PERU. 

touch  of  those  who  affected  to  cultivate  them.  The 
wing  of  genius  was  not  bound  to  the  earth  by  the  cold 
and  conventional  rules  of  criticism,  but  was  permitted 
to  take  its  flight  far  and  wide  over  the  broad  expanse 
of  creation. 

But  with  science  it  was  otherwise.  No  genius  could 
suffice  for  the  creation  of  facts, — hardly  for  their  de- 
tection. They  were  to  be  gathered  in  by  painful  in- 
dustry; to  be  collected  from  careful  observation  and 
experiment.  Genius,  indeed,  might  arrange  and  com- 
bine these  facts  into  new  forms,  and  elicit  from  their 
combinations  new  and  important  inferences,  and  in 
this  process  might  almost  rival  in  originality  the  crea- 
tions of  the  poet  and  the  artist.  But  if  the  processes 
of  science  are  necessarily  slow,  they  are  sure.  There 
is  no  retrograde  movement  in  her  domain.  Arts  may 
fade,  the  Muse  become  dumb,  a  moral  lethargy  may 
lock  up  the  faculties  of  a  nation,  the  nation  itself  may 
pass  away  and  leave  only  the  memory  of  its  existence, 
but  the  stores  of  science  it  has  garnered  up  will  endure 
forever.  As  other  nations  come  upon  the  stage,  and 
new  forms  of  civilization  arise,  the  monuments  of  art 
and  of  imagination,  productions  of  an  older  time,  will 
lie  as  an  obstacle  in  the  path  of  improvement.  They 
cannot  be  built  upon  ;  they  occupy  the  ground  which 
the  new  aspirant  for  immortality  would  cover.  The 
whole  work  is  to  be  gone  over  again,  and  other  forms 
of  beauty — whether  higher  or  lower  in  the  scale  of 
merit,  unlike  the  past — must  arise  to  take  a  place  by 
their  side.  But,  in  science,  every  stone  that  has  been 
laid  remains  as  the  foundation  for  another.  The 
coming  generation  takes  up  the  work  where  the  pre- 


ANCIENT  AND    MODERN  SCIENCE.          189 

ceding  left  it.  There  is  no  retrograde  movement. 
The  individual  nation  may  recede,  but  science  still 
advances.  Every  step  that  has  been  gained  makes  the 
ascent  easier  for  those  who  come  after.  Every  step 
carries  the  patient  inquirer  after  truth  higher  and  higher 
towards  heaven,  and  unfolds  to  him,  as  he  rises,  a  wider 
horizon,  and  new  and  more  magnificent  views  of  the 
universe. 

Geography  partook  of  the  embarrassments  which 
belonged  to  every  other  department  of  science  in  the 
primitive  ages  of  the  world.  The  knowledge  of -the 
earth  could  come  only  from  an  extended  commerce ; 
and  commerce  is  founded  on  artificial  wants  or  an  en- 
lightened curiosity,  hardly  compatible  with  the  earlier 
condition  of  society.  In  the  infancy  of  nations,  the 
different  tribes,  occupied  with  their  domestic  feuds, 
found  few  occasions  to  wander  beyond  the  mountain 
chain  or  broad  stream  that  formed  the  natural  boundary 
of  their  domains.  The  Phoenicians,  it  is  true,  are  said 
to  have  sailed  beyond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  to 
have  launched  out  on  the  great  western  ocean.  But 
the  adventures  of  these  ancient  voyagers  belong  to  the 
mythic  legends  of  antiquity,  and  ascend  far  beyond 
the  domain  of  authentic  record. 

The  Greeks,  quick  and  adventurous,  skilled  in  me- 
chanical art,  had  many  of  the  qualities  of  successful 
navigators,  and  within  the  limits  of  their  little  inland 
sea  ranged  fearlessly  and  freely.  But  the  conquests 
of  Alexander  did  more  to  extend  the  limits  of  geo- 
graphical science,  and  opened  an  acquaintance  with 
the  remote  countries  of  the  East.  Yet  the  march  of 
the  conqueror  is  slow  in  comparison  with  the  move- 


I9o 


DISCOVERY    OF   PERL', 


ments  of  the  unencumbered  traveller.  The  Romans 
were  still  less  enterprising  than  the  Greeks,  were  less 
commercial  in  their  character.  The  contributions  to 
geographical  knowledge  grew  with  the  slow  acquisitions 
of  empire.  But  their  system  was  centralizing  in  its 
tendency ;  and,  instead  of  taking  an  outward  direction 
and  looking  abroad  for  discovery,  every  part  of  the 
vast  imperial  domain  turned  towards  the  capital  as  its 
head  and  central  point  of  attraction.  The  Roman 
conqueror  pursued  his  path  by  land,  not  by  sea.  But 
the  water  is  the  great  highway  between  nations,  the  true 
element  for  the  discoverer.  The  Romans  were  not  a 
maritime  people.  At  the  close  of  their  empire,  geo- 
graphical science  could  hardly  be  said  to  extend  farther 
than  to  an  acquaintance  with  Europe, — and  this  not  its 
more  northern  division, — together  with  a  portion  of 
Asia  and  Africa ;  while  they  had  no  other  conception 
of  a  world  beyond  the  Western  waters  than  was  to  be 
gathered  from  the  fortunate  prediction  of  the  poet.1 

Then  followed  the  Middle  Ages ;  the  dark  ages,  as 
they  are  called,  though  in  their  darkness  were  matured 
those  seeds  of  knowledge  which,  in  fulness  of  time, 
were  to  spring  up  into  new  and  more  glorious  forms 

1  Seneca's  well-known  prediction,  in  his  Medea,  is  perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  random  prophecy  on  record.  For  it  is  not  a  simple  ex- 
tension of  the  boundaries  of  the  known  parts  of  the  globe  that  is  so 
confidently  announced,  but  the  existence  of  a  New  World  across  the 
waters,  to  be  revealed  in  coming  ages  : 

"  Quibus  Occanus 
Vincula  rerum  laxet.  et  ingens 
Pateat  tellus,  Typhisque  Noves 
Detegat  Orbes." 

It  was  the  lucky  hit  of  the  philosopher  rather  than  the  poet. 


ART   OF  NAVIGATION. 


191 


of  civilization.  The  organization  of  society  became 
more  favorable  to  geographical  science.  Instead  of  one 
overgrown,  lethargic  empire,  oppressing  every  thing  by 
its  colossal  weight,  Europe  was  broken  up  into  various 
independent  communities,  many  of  which,  adopting 
liberal  forms  of  government,  felt  all  the  impulses 
natural  to  freemen  ;  and  the  petty  republics  on  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  Baltic  sent  forth  their  swarms 
of  seamen  in  a  profitable  commerce,  that  knit  together 
the  different  countries  scattered  along  the  great  Euro- 
pean waters. 

But  the  improvements  which  took  place  in  the  art 
of  navigation,  the  more  accurate  measurement  of  time, 
and,  above  all,  the  discovery  of  the  polarity  of  the 
magnet,  greatly  advanced  the  cause  of  geographical 
knowledge.  Instead  of  creeping  timidly  along  the 
coast,  or  limiting  his  expeditions  to  the  narrow  basins 
of  inland  waters,  the  voyager  might  now  spread  his 
sails  boldly  on  the  deep,  secure  of  a  guide  to  direct 
his  bark  unerringly  across  the  illimitable  waste.  The 
consciousness  of  this  power  led  thought  to  travel  in  a 
new  direction ;  and  the  mariner  began  to  look  with 
earnestness  for  another  path  to  the  Indian  Spice-islands 
than  that  by  which  the  Eastern  caravans  had  traversed 
the  continent  of  Asia.  The  nations  on  whom  the 
spirit  of  enterprise  at  this  crisis  naturally  descended 
were  Spain  and  Portugal,  placed  as  they  were  on  the 
outposts  of  the  European  continent,  commanding  the 
great  theatre  of  future  discovery. 

Both  countries  felt  the  responsibility  of  their  new 
position.  The  crown  of  Portugal  was  constant  in  its 
efforts,  through  the  fifteenth  century,  to  find  a  passage 


192 


DISCOVERS    OF   PERL'. 


round  the  southern  point  of  Africa  into  the  Indian 
Ocean ;  though  so  timid  was  the  navigation  that  every 
fresh  headland  became  a  formidable  barrier,  and  it  was 
not  till  the  latter  part  of  the  century  that  the  adven- 
turous Diaz  passed  quite  round  the  Stormy  Cape,  as  he 
termed  it,  but  which  John  the  Second,  with  happier 
augury,  called  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope..  But,  before 
Vasco  da  Gama  had  availed  himself  of  this  discovery 
to  spread  his  sails  in  the  Indian  seas,  Spain  entered 
on  her  glorious  career  and  sent  Columbus  across  the 
Western  waters. 

The  object  of  the  great  navigator  was  still  the  dis- 
covery of  a  route  to  India,  but  by  the  west  instead  of 
the  east.  He  had  no  expectation  of  meeting  with  a 
continent  in  his  way,  and,  after  repeated  voyages,  he 
remained  in  his  original  error,  dying,  as  is  well  known, 
in  the  conviction  that  it  was  the  eastern  shore  of  Asia 
which  he  had  reached.  It  was  the  same  object  which 
directed  the  nautical  enterprises  of  those  who  followed 
in  the  Admiral's  track ;  and  the  discovery  of  a  strait 
into  the  Indian  Ocean  was  the  burden  of  every  order 
from  the  government,  and  the  design  of  many  an 
expedition  to  different  points  of  the  new  continent, 
which  seemed  to  stretch  its  leviathan  length  along 
from  one  pole  to  the  other.  The  discovery  of  an 
Indian  passage  is  the  true  key  to  the  maritime  move- 
ments of  the  fifteenth  and  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  It  was  the  great  leading  idea  that  gave  its 
peculiar  character  to  the  enterprise  of  the  age. 

It  is  not  easy  at  this  time  to  comprehend  the  impulse 
given  to  Europe  by  the  discovery  of  America.  It  was 
not  the  gradual  acquisition  of  some  border  territory, 


MARITIME    DISCOl'ERY.  193 

a  province  or  a  kingdom  that  had  been  gained,  but  a 
new  world  that  was  now  thrown  open  to  the  Euro- 
pean. The  races  of  animals,  the  mineral  treasures,  the 
vegetable  forms,  and  the  varied  aspects  of  nature,  man 
;.n  the  different  phases  of  civilization,  filled  the  mind 
with  entirely  new  sets  of  ideas,  that  changed  the 
habitual  current  .of  thought  and  stimulated  it  to  indefi- 
nite conjecture.  The  eagerness  to  explore  the  won 
derful  secrets  of  the  new  hemisphere  became  so  active 
that  the  principal  cities  of  Spain  were,  in  a  manner, 
depopulated,  as  emigrants  thronged  one  after  another 
to  take  their  chance  upon  the  deep.'  It  was  a  world 
of  romance  that  was  thrown  open  ;  for,  whatever  might 
be  the  luck  of  the  adventurer,  his  reports  on  his  return 
were  tinged  with  a  coloring  of  romance  that  stimulated 
still  higher  the  sensitive  fancies  of  his  countrymen  and 
nourished  the  chimerical  sentiments  of  an  age  of  chiv- 
alry. They  listened  with  attentive  ears  to  tales  of 
Amaxons  which  seemed  to  realize  the  classic  legends 
of  antiquity,  to  stories  of  Patagonian  giants,  to  flaming 
pictures  of  an  El  Dorado  where  the  sands  sparkled 
with  gems  and  golden  pebbles  as  large  as  birds'  eggs 
were  dragged  in  nets  out  of  the  rivers. 

Yet  that  the  adventurers  were  no  impostors,  but 
dupes,  too  easy  dupes,  of  their  own  credulous  fancies, 
is  shown  by  the  extravagant  character  of  their  enter- 
prises ;  by  expeditions  in  search  of  the  magical  Foun- 

-  The  Venetian  ambassador  Andrea  Navagiero,  who  travelled 
through  Spain  in  1525,  near  the  period  of  the  commencement  of  our 
narrative,  notices  the  general  fever  of  emigration.  Seville,  in  particu- 
lar, the  great  port  of  embarkation,  was  so  stripped  of  its  inhabitants, 
he  says,  "  that  the  city  was  left  almost  to  the  women."  Viaggio  fatt« 
in  Spagna  (Vinegia,  1563),  fol.  15. 
Peru.—  VOL-  I.— I  17 


T94  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

tain  of  Health,  of  tHe  golden  Temple  of  Doboyba,  of 
the  golden  sepulchres  of  Zenu ;  for  gold  was  ever 
floating  before  their  distempered  vision,  and  the  name 
of  Castillo,  del  Oro,  Golden  Castile,  the  most  unhealthy 
and  unprofitable  region  of  the  Isthmus,  held  out  a 
bright  promise  to  the  unfortunate  settler,  who  too  fre- 
quently, instead  of  gold,  found  there  only  his  grave. 

In  this  realm  of  enchantment,  all  the  accessories 
served  to  maintain  the  illusion.  The  simple  natives, 
with  their  defenceless  bodies  and  rude  weapons,  were 
no  match  for  the  European  warrior  armed  to  the  teeth 
in  mail.  The  odds  were  as  great  as  those  found  in  any 
legend  of  chivalry,  where  the  lance  of  the  good  knight 
overturned  hundreds  at  a  touch.  The  perils  that  lay 
in  the  discoverer's  path,  and  the  sufferings  he  had  to 
sustain,  were  scarcely  inferior  to  those  that  beset  the 
knight-errant.  Hunger  and  thirst  and  fatigue,  the 
deadly  effluvia  of  the  morass  with  its  swarms  of  ven- 
omous insects,  the  cold  of  mountain  snows,  and  the 
scorching  sun  of  the  tropics,  these  were  the  lot  of 
every  cavalier  who  came  to  seek  his  fortunes  in  the 
New  World.  It  was  the  reality  of  romance.  The  life 
of  the  Spanish  adventurer  was  one  chapter  more — and 
not  the  least  remarkable — in  the  chronicles  of  knight- 
errantry. 

The  character  of  the  warrior  took  on  somewhat  of 
the  exaggerated  coloring  shed  over  his  exploits.  Proud 
and  vainglorious,  swelled  with  lofty  anticipations  of 
his  destiny  and  an  invincible  confidence  in  his  own 
resources,  no  danger  could  appall  and  no  toil  could  tire 
him.  The  greater  the  danger,  indeed,  the  higher  the 
charm ;  for  his  soul  revelled  in  excitement,  and  the 


SPIRIT    OF    THE    SPANIARDS. 


'95 


enterprise  without  peril  wanted  that  spur  of  romance 
which  was  necessary  to  rouse  his  energies  into  action. 
Yet  in  the  motives  of  action  meaner  influences  were 
strangely  mingled  with  the  loftier,  the  temporal  with 
the  spiritual.  Gold  was  the  incentive  and  the  recom- 
pense, and  in  the  pursuit  of  it  his  inflexible  nature 
rarely  hesitated  as  to  the  means.  His  courage  was 
sullied  with  cruelty,  the  cruelty  that  flowed  equally — 
strange  as  it  may  seem — from  his  avarice  and  his 
religion  ;  religion  as  it  was  understood  in  that  age, — 
the  religion  of  the  Crusader.  It  was  the  convenient 
cloak  for  a  multitude  of  sins,  which  covered  them  even 
from  himself.  The  Castilian,  too  proud  for  hypocrisy, 
committed  more  cruelties  in  the  name  of  religion  than 
were  ever  practised  by  the  pagan  idolater  or  the  fanati- 
cal Moslem.  The  burning  of  the  infidel  was  a  sacrifice 
acceptable  to  Heaven,  and  the  conversion  of  those  who 
survived  amply  atoned  for  the  foulest  offences.  It  is  a 
melancholy  and  mortifying  consideration  that  the  most 
uncompromising  spirit  of  intolerance — the  spirit  of  the 
Inquisitor  at  home,  and  of  the  Crusader  abroad — 
should  have  emanated  from  a  religion  which  preached 
peace  upon  earth  and  good  will  towards  man  ! 

What  a  contrast  did  these  children  of  Southern 
Europe  present  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  races  who  scat- 
tered themselves  along  the  great  northern  division  of 
the  Western  hemisphere  !  For  the  principle  of  action 
with  these  latter  was  not  avarice,  nor  the  more  specious 
pretext  of  proselytism  ;  but  independence, — independ- 
ence religious  and  political.  To  secure  this,  they  were 
content  to  earn  a  bare  subsistence  by  a  life  of  frugality 
and  toil.  They  asked  nothing  from  the  soil  but  the 


196  DISCOVERY    OF   PERL'. 

reasonable  returns  of  their  own  labor.  No  golden 
visions  threw  a  deceitful  halo  around  their  path  and 
beckoned  them  onwards  through  seas  of  blood  to  the 
subversion  of  an  unoffending  dynasty.  They  were  con- 
tent with  the  slow  but  steady  progress  of  their  social 
polity.  They  patiently  endured  the  privations  of  the 
wilderness,  watering  the  tree  of  liberty  with  their  tears 
and  with  the  sweat  of  their  brow,  till  it  took  deep  root 
in  the  land  and  sent  up  its  branches  high  towards  the 
heavens;  while  the  communities  of  the  neighboring 
continent,  shooting  up  into  the  sudden  splendors  of 'a 
tropical  vegetation,  exhibited,  even  in  their  prime,  the 
sure  symptoms  of  decay. 

It  would  seem  to  have  been  especially  ordered  by- 
Providence  that  the  discovery  of  the  two  great  divis- 
ions of  the  American  hemisphere  should  fall  to  the  two 
races  best  fitted  to  conquer  and  colonize  them.  Thus, 
the  northern  section  was  consigned  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  whose  orderly,  industrious  habits  found  an  ample 
field  for  development  under  its  colder  skies  and  on  its 
more  rugged  soil ;  while  the  southern  portion,  with  its 
rich  tropical  products  and  treasures  of  mineral  wealth, 
held  out  the  most  attractive  bait  to  invite  the  enter- 
prise of  the  Spaniard.  How  different  might  have  been 
the  result  if  the  bark  of  Columbus  had  taken  a  more 
northerly  direction,  as  he  at  one  time  meditated,  and 
landed  its  band  of  adventurers  on  the  shores  of  what 
is  now  Protestant  America  ! 

Under  the  pressure  of  that  spirit  of  nautical  enter- 
prise which  filled  the  maritime  communities  of  Europe 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  whole  extent  of  the  mighty 
continent,  from  Labrador  to  Terra  del  Fuego,  was  ex- 


A' I 'MO ft S  CONCERNING    PERU. 


197 


plored  in  less  than  thirty  years  after  its  discovery ;  and 
in  1521  the  Portuguese  Maghellan,  sailing  under  the 
Spanish  flag,  solved  the  problem  of  the  strait,  and 
found  a  westerly  way  to  the  long-sought  Spice-islands 
of  India, — greatly  to  the  astonishment  of  the  Portu- 
guese, who,  sailing  from  the  opposite  direction,  there 
met  their  rivals,  face  to  face,  at  the  antipodes.  But 
while  the  whole  eastern  coast  of  the  American  conti- 
nent had  been  explored,  and  the  central  portion  of  it 
colonized, — even  after  the  brilliant  achievement  of  the 
Mexican  conquest, — the  veil  was  not  yet  raised  that 
hung  over  the  golden  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

Floating  rumors  had  reached  the  Spaniards,  from 
time  to  time,  of  countries  in  the  far  west,  teeming 
with  the  metal  they  so  much  coveted  ;  but  the  first  dis- 
tinct notice  of  Peru  was  about  the  year  1511,  when 
Vasco  Nufiez  de  Balboa,  the  discoverer  of  the  Southern 
Sea,  was  weighing  some  gold  which  he  had  collected 
from  the  natives.  A  young  barbarian  chieftain,  who 
was  present,  struck  the  scales  with  his  fist,  and,  scat- 
tering the  glittering  metal  around  the  apartment,  ex- 
claimed, "  If  this  is  what  you  prize  so  much  that  you 
are  willing  to  leave  your  distant  homes  and  risk  even 
life  itself  for  it,  I  can  tell  you  of  a  land  where  they 
eat  and  drink  out  of  golden  vessels,  and  gold  is  as 
cheap  as  iron  is  with  you."  It  was  not  long  after  this 
startling  intelligence  that  Balboa  achieved  the  for- 
midable adventure  of  scaling  the  mountain-rampart  of 
the  isthmus  which  divides  the  two  mighty  oceans  from 
each  other ;  when,  armed  with  sword  and  buckler,  he 
rushed  into  the  waters  of  the  Pacific,  and  cried  out,  in 
the  true  chivalrous  vein,  that  "  he  claimed  this  unknown 


I98  DISCOVERY    OF   PEKU. 

sea,  with  all  that  it  contained,  for  the  King  of  Castile, 
and  that  he  would  make  good  the  claim  against  all, 
Christian  or  infidel,  who  dared  to  gainsay  it"  !3  All 
the  broad  continent  and  sunny  isles  washed  by  the 
waters  of  the  Southern  Ocean  !  Little  did  the  bold 
cavalier  comprehend  the  full  import  of  his  magnificent 
vaunt. 

On  this  spot  he  received  more  explicit  tidings  of  the 
Peruvian  empire,  heard  proofs  recounted  of  its  civili- 
zation, and  was  shown  drawings  of  the  llama,  which, 
to  the  European  eye,  seemed  a  species  of  the  Arabian 
camel.  But,  although  he  steered  his  caravel  for  these 
golden  realms,  and  even  pushed  his  discoveries  some 
twenty  leagues  south  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Michael,  the 
adventure  was  not  reserved  for  him.  The  illustrious 
discoverer  was  doomed  to  fall  a  victim  to  that  miserable 
jealousy  with  which  a  little  spirit  regards  the  achieve- 
ments of  a  great  one. 

The  Spanish  colonial  domain  was  broken  up  into  a 
number  of  petty  governments,  which  were  dispensed 
sometimes  to  court  favorites,  though,  as  the  duties 
of  the  post,  at  this  early  period,  were  of  an  arduous 
nature,  they  were  more  frequently  reserved  for  men  of 
some  practical  talent  and  enterprise.  Columbus,  by 
virtue  of  his  original  contract  with  the  crown,  had 
jurisdiction  over  the  territories  discovered  by  himself, 
embracing  some  of  the  principal  islands,  and  a  few 
places  on  the  continent.  This  jurisdiction  differed 
from  that  of  other  functionaries,  inasmuch  as  it  was 
hereditary  ;  a  privilege  found  in  the  end  too  consider- 

3  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  i.lib.  10,  cap.  2. — Quintana,  Vidasde 
Espanoles  celebres  (Madrid,  1830),  torn.  ii.  p.  44. 


RUMORS  CO  NCI-.K. \l.\C    PERU.  199 

able  for  a  subject,  and  commuted,  therefore,  for  a  title 
and  a  pension.  These  colonial  governments  were 
multiplied  with  the  increase  of  empire,  and  by  the 
year  1524,  the  period  at  which  our  narrative  properly 
commences,  were  scattered  over  the  islands,  along  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien,  the  broad  tract  of  Tierra  Firma, 
and  the  recent  conquests  in  Mexico.  Some  of  these 
governments  were  of  no  great  extent ;  others,  like 
that  of  Mexico,  were  of  the  dimensions  of  a  kingdom ; 
and  most  had  an  indefinite  range  for  discovery  assigned 
to  them  in  their  immediate  neighborhood,  by  which 
each  of  the  petty  potentates  might  enlarge  his  terri- 
torial sway  and  enrich  his  followers  and  himself.  This 
politic  arrangement  best  served  the  ends  of  the  crown, 
by  affording  a  perpetual  incentive  to.  the  spirit  of  enter- 
prise. Thus  living  on  their  own  little  domains  at  a 
long  distance  from  the  mother-country,  these  military 
rulers  held  a  sort  of  vice-regal  sway,  and  too  frequently 
exercised  it  in  the  most  oppressive  and  tyrannical  man- 
ner,— oppressive  to  the  native,  and  tyrannical  towards 
their  own  followers.  It  was  the  natural  consequence, 
when  men  originally  low  in  station,  and  unprepared 
by  education  for  office,  were  suddenly  called  to  the 
possession  of  a  brief,  but  in  its  nature  irresponsible, 
authority.  It  was  not  till  after  some  sad  experience 
of  these  results  that  measures  were  taken  to  hold  these 
petty  tyrants  in  check  by  means  of  regular  tribunals, 
or  Royal  Audiences,  as  they  were  termed,  which,  com- 
posed of  men  of  character  and  learning,  might  inter- 
pose the  arm  of  the  law,  or  at  least  the  voice  of 
remonstrance,  for  the  protection  of  both  colonist  and 
native. 


SOO  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

Among  the  colonial  governors  who  were  indebted 
for  their  situation  to  their  rank  at  home  was  Don  Pedro 
Arias  de  Avila,  or  Pedrarias,  as  usually  called.  He 
was  married  to  a  daughter  of  Dofia  Beatriz  de  Boba- 
dilla,  the  celebrated  Marchioness  of  Moya,  best  known 
as  the  friend  of  Isabella  the  Catholic.  He  was  a  man 
of  some  military  experience  and  considerable  energy 
of  character.  But,  as  it  proved,  he  was  of  a  malignant 
temper ;  and  the  base  qualities  which  might  have  passed 
unnoticed  in  the  obscurity  of  private  life  were  made 
conspicuous,  and  perhaps  created  in  some  measure,  by 
sudden  elevation  to  power ;  as  the  sunshine,  which 
operates  kindly  on  a  generous  soil  and  stimulates  it  to 
production,  calls  forth  from  the  unwholesome  marsh 
only  foul  and  pestilent  vapors.  This  man  was  placed 
over  the  territory  of  Castillo,  del  Oro,  the  ground 
selected  by  Nufiez  de  Balboa  for  the  theatre  of  his 
discoveries.  Success  drew  on  this  latter  the  jealousy 
of  his  superior,  for  it  was  crime  enough  in  the  eyes  of 
Pedrarias  to  deserve  too  well.  The  tragical  history  of 
this  cavalier  belongs  to  a  period  somewhat  earlier  than 
that  with  which  we  are  to  be  occupied.  It  has  been 
traced  by  abler  hands  than  mine,  and,  though  brief, 
forms  one  of  the  most  brilliant  passages  in  the  annals 
of  the  American  conquerors.4 

But,  though  Pedrarias  was  willing  to  cut  short  the 
glorious  career  of  his 'rival,  he  was  not  insensible  to 
4  The  memorable  adventures  of  Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa  have  been 
recorded  by  Quintana  (Espanoles  celebres.  torn,  ii.)  and  by  Irving  in 
his  Companions  of  Columbus.  It  is  rare  that  the  life  of»an  individual 
has  formed  the  subject  of  two  such  elegant  memorials,  produced  a) 
nearly  the  same  time,  and  in  different  languages,  without  any  com- 
munication between  the  authors. 


K UMOKS  C 'ONCERNfNG    /'/.  AT.  2O  r 

the  important  consequences  of  his  discoveries.  He 
saw  at  once  the  unsuitableness  of  Darien  for  prosecuting 
expeditions  on  the  Pacific,  and,  conformably  to  the 
original  suggestion  of  Balboa,  in  1519  he  caused  his 
rising  capital  to  be  transferred  from  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic  to  the  ancient  site  of  Panama,  some  distance 
east  of  the  present  city  of  that  name.5  This  most 
unhealthy  spot,  the  cemetery  of  many  an  unfortunate 
colonist,  was  favorably  situated  for  the  great  object 
of  maritime  enterprise  ;  and  the  port,  from  its  central 
position,  afforded  the  best  point  of  departure  for  expe- 
ditions, whether  to  the  north  or  south,  along  the  wide 
range  of  undiscovered  coast  that  lined  the  Southern 
Ocean.  Yet  in  this  new  and  more  favorable  position 
several  years  were  suffered  to  elapse  before  the  course 
of  discovery  took  the  direction  of  Peru.  This  was 
turned  exclusively  towards  the  north,  or  rather  west, 
in  obedience  to  the  orders  of  the  government,  which 
had  ever  at  heart  the  detection  of  a  strait  that,  as  was 
supposed,  must  intersect  some  part  or  other  of  the 
long-extended  Isthmus.  Armament  after  armament  was 

s  The  court  gave  positive  instructions  to  Pedrarias  to  make  a  settle- 
ment in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Michael,  in  obedience  to  the  suggestion  of 
Vasco  Nufiez,  that  it  would  be  the  most  eligible  site  for  discovery  and 
traffic  in  the  South  Sea:  "  El  asiento  que  se  oviere  de  hacer  en  el 
golfo  de  S.  Miguel  en  la  mar  del  sur  debe  ser  en  el  puerto  que  mejor 
se  hallare  y  mas  convenible  para  la  contratacion  de  aquel  golfo,  porque 
segund  lo  que  Vasco  Nunez  escribe,  seria  muy  necesario  que  alii 
haya  algunos  navios,  asi  para  descubrir  las  cosas  del  golfo;  y  de  la 
comarca  del,  como  para  la  contratacion  de  rescates  de  las  otras  cosas 
necesarias  al  buen  proveimiento  de  aquello  ;  e  para  que  estos  navios 
aprovechen  es  menester  que  se  hagan  alia."  Capitulo  de  Carta  escrita 
por  el  Rey  Cat61ico  a  Pedrarias  Davila,  ap.  Navarrete,  Coleccion  de 
los  Viages  y  Descubrimientos  (Madrid,  1829),  torn.  iii.  No.  3. 


202  D/ SCO  VERY    OF   PERT. 

fitted  out  with  this  chimerical  object ;  and  Pedrarias 
saw  his  domain  extending  every  year  farther  and  farther 
without  deriving  any  considerable  advantage  from  his 
acquisitions.  Veragua,  Costa  Rica,  Nicaragua,  were 
successively  occupied  ;  and  his  brave  cavaliers  forced  a 
way  across  forest  and  mountain  and  warlike  tribes  of 
savages,  till,  at  Honduras,  they  came  in  collision  with 
the  companions  of  Cortes,  the  Conquerors  of  Mexico, 
who  had  descended  from  the  great  northern  plateau  on 
the  regions  of  Central  America,  and  thus  completed 
the  survey  of  this  wild  and  mysterious  land. 

It  was  not  till  1522  that  a  regular  expedition  was 
despatched  in  the  direction  south  of  Panama,  under 
the  conduct  of  Pascual  de  Andagoya,  a  cavalier  of 
much  distinction  in  the  colony.  But  that  officer  pene- 
trated only  to  the  Puerto  de  Pifias,  the  limit  of  Bal- 
boa's discoveries,  when  the  bad  state  of  his  health 
compelled  him  to  re-embark  and  abandon  his  enter- 
prise at  its  commencement.6 

Yet  the  floating  rumors  of  the  wealth  and  civilization 
of  a  mighty  nation  at  the  south  were  continually  reach- 
ing the  ears  and  kindling  the  dreamy  imaginations  of 

6  According  to  Montesinos,  Andagoya  received  a  Severe  injury  by  a 
fall  from  his  horse,  while  showing  off  the  high-mettled  animal  to  the 
wondering  eyes  of  the  natives.  (Annales  del  Peru,  MS.,  ano  1524.) 
But  the  Adelantado,  in  a  memorial  of  his  own  discoveries,  drawn  up 
by  himself,  says  nothing  of  this  unlucky  feat  of  horsemanship,  but 
imputes  his  illness  to  his  having  fallen  into  the  water,  an  accident  by 
which  he  was  near  being  drowned,  so  that  it  was  some  years  before  he 
recovered  from  the  effects  of  it, — a  mode  of  accounting  for  his  pre- 
mature return,  more  soothing  to  his  vanity,  probably,  than  the  one 
usually  received.  This  document,  important  as  coming  from  the  pen 
of  one  of  the  primitive  discoverers,  is  preserved  in  the  Indian  Archives 
•f  Seville,  and  was  published  by  Navarrete,  Coleccion,  torn.  iii.  No.  7. 


CONCERNING    ri-AT.  203 

the  colonists ;  and  it  may  seem  astonishing  that  an 
expedition  in  that  direction  should  have  been  so  long 
deferred.  But  the  exact  position  and  distance  of  this 
fairy  realm  were  matter  of  conjecture.  The  long  tract 
of  intervening  country  was  occupied  by  rude  and  war- 
like races  ;  and  the  little  experience  which  the  Spanish 
navigators  had  already  had  of  the  neighboring  coast 
and  its  inhabitants,  and,  still  more,  the  tempestuous 
character  of  the  seas, — for  their  expeditions  had  taken 
place  at  the  most  unpropitious  seasons  of  the  year, — 
enhanced  the  apparent  difficulties  of  the  undertaking 
and  made  even  their  stout  hearts  shrink  from  it. 

Such  was  the  state  of  feeling  in  the  little  community 
of  Panama  for  several  years  after  its  foundation.  Mean- 
while, the  dazzling  conquest  of  Mexico  gave  a  new  im- 
pulse to  the  ardor  of  discovery,  and  in  1524  three  men 
were  found  in  the  colony  in  whom  the  spirit  of  adven- 
ture triumphed  over  every  consideration  of  difficulty 
and  danger  that  obstructed  the  prosecution  of  the  en- 
terprise. One  among  them  was  selected  as  fitted  by 
his  character  to  conduct  it  to  a  successful  issue.  That 
man  was  Francisco  Pizarro  ;  and,  as  he  held  the  same 
conspicuous  post  in  the  Conquest  of  Peru  that  was 
occupied  by  Cortes  in  that  of  Mexico,  it  "will  be  neces- 
sary to  take  a  brief  review  of  his  early  history. 


CHAPTER    II. 

FRANCISCO  PIZARRO. — HIS  EARLY  HISTORY. — FIRST  EX- 
PEDITION TO  THE  SOUTH. DISTRESSES  OF  THE  VOY- 
AGERS.— SHARP  ENCOUNTERS. — RETURN  TO  PANAMA. — 
ALMAGRO'S  EXPEDITION. 

1524-1525. 

FRANCISCO  PIZARRO  was  born  at  Truxillo,  a  city  of 
Estremadura,  in  Spain.  The  period  of  his  birth  is 
uncertain  ;  but  probably  it  was  not  far  from  1471.'  He 
was  an  illegitimate  child,  and  that  his  parents  should 
not  have  taken  pains  to  perpetuate  the  date  of  his  birth 
is  not  surprising.  Few  care  to  make  a  particular  record 

1  The  few  writers  who  venture  to  assign  the  date  of  Pizarro's  birth 
do  it  in  so  vague  and  contradictory  a  manner  as  'to  inspire  us  with 
but  little  confidence  in  their  accounts.  Herrera.  it  is  true,  says  posi- 
tively that  he  was  sixty-three  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in 
1541.  (Hist,  general,  dec.  6,  lib.  10,  cap.  6.)  This  would  carry  back 
the  date  of  his  birth  only  to  1478.  But  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  affirms 
that  he  was  more  than  fifty  years  old  in  1525.  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  2, 
lib.  i,  cap.  i.)  This  would  place  his  birth  before  1475.  Pizarro  y 
Orellana,  who,  as  a  kinsman  of  the  Conqueror,  may  be  supposed  u> 
have  had  better  means  of  information,  says  he  was  fifty-four  years  of 
age  at  the  same  date  of  1525.  (Varones  ilustres  del  Nuevo-Mundo 
(Madrid,  1639),  p.  128.)  But  at  the  period  of  his  death  he  calls  him 
nearly  eighty  years  old!  (p.  185.)  Taking  this  latter  as  a  round 
exaggeration  for  effect  in  the  particular  connection  in  which  it  is  used, 
and  admitting  the  accuracy  of  the  former  statement,  the  epoch  of  his 
birth  will  conform  to  that  given  in  the  text.  This  makes  him  some- 
what late  in  life  to  set  about  the  conquest  of  an  empire.  But  Colum- 
bus, when  he  entered  on  his  career,  was  still  older. 
(204) 


FRANCISCO    PIZARRO. 


.  fKAXCJSCO    P1ZARRO. 


205 


of  their  transgressions.  His  father,  Gonzalo  Pizarro, 
was  a  colonel  of  infantry,  and  served  with  some  dis- 
tinction in  the  Italian  campaigns  under  the  Great  Cap- 
tain, and  afterwards  in  the  wars  of  Navarre.  His 
mother,  named  Francisca  Gonzales,  was  a  person  of 
humble  condition  in  the  town  of  Truxillo.* 

But  little  is  told  of  Francisco's  early  years,  and  that 
little  not  always  deserving  of  credit.  According  to 
some,  he  was  deserted  by  both  his  parents,  and  left  as  a 
foundling  at  the  door  of  one  of  the  principal  churches  of 
the  city.  It  is  even  said  that  he  would  have  perished, 
had  he  not  been  nursed  by  a  sow.3  This  is  a  more  dis- 
creditable fountain  of  supply  than  that  assigned  to  the  in- 
fant Romulus.  The  early  history  of  men  who  have  made 
their  names  famous  by  deeds  in  after-life,  like  the  early 
history  of  nations,  affords  a  fruitful  field  for  invention. 

It  seems  certain  that  the  young  Pizarro  received  little 
care  from  either  of  his  parents,  and  was  suffered  to  grow 
up  as  nature  dictated.  He  was  neither  taught  to  read 
nor  write,  and  his  principal  occupation  was  that  of  a 
swineherd.  But  this  torpid  way  of  life  did  not  suit 
the  stirring  spirit  of  Pizarro,  as  he  grew  older,  and 
listened  to  the  tales,  widely  circulated  and  so  capti- 
vating to  the  youthful  fancy,  of  the  New  World.  He 
shared  in  the  popular  enthusiasm,  and  availed  himself 
of  a  favorable  moment  to  abandon  his  ignoble  charge 
and  escape  to  Seville,  the  port  where  the  Spanish  ad- 

*  Xerez,  Conquista  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  179. — Zarate, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  r. — Pizarro  y  Orellana,  Varones  ilustres, 
p.  128. 

3  "  Nacio  en  Truxillo,  i  echaronlo  a  la  puerta  de  la  Iglesia,  mamd 
nna  Puerca  ciertos  Dias,  no  se  hallando  quien  le  quisiese  darleche." 
Gomara,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  cap.  144. 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  18 


206  D/SCOl'KKY    OP 

venturers  embarked  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  the  West. 
Few  of  them  could  have  turned  their  backs  on  their 
native  land  with  less  cause  for  regret  than  Pizarro.4 

In  what  year  this  important  change  in  his  destiny 
took  place  we  are  not  informed.  The  first  we  hear  of 
him  in  the  New  World  is  at  the  island  of  Hispaniola, 
in  1510,  where  he  took  part  in  the  expedition  to  Uraba 
in  Terra  Firma,  under  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  a  cavalier 
whose  character  and  achievements  find  no  parallel  but 
in  the  pages  of  Cervantes.  Hernando  Cortes,  whose 
mother  was  a  Pizarro,  and  related,  it  is  said,  to  the 
father  of  Francis,  was  then  in  St.  Domingo,  and  pre- 
pared to  accompany  Ojeda's  expedition,  but  was  pre- 
vented by  a  temporary  lameness.  Had  he  gone,  the 
fall  of  the  Aztec  empire  might  have  been  postponed 
for  some  time  longer,  and  the  sceptre  of  Montezuma 
have  descended  in  peace  to  his  posterity.  Pi/arro 
shared  in  the  disastrous  fortunes  of  Ojeda's  coiony, 
and  by  his  discretion  obtained  so  far  the  confidence 
of  his  commander  as  to  be  left  in  charge  of  the  settle- 
ment when  the  latter  returned  for  supplies  to  the  islands. 
The  lieutenant  continued  at  his  perilous  post  for  nearly 
two  months,  waiting  deliberately  until  death  should 
have  thinned  off  the  colony  sufficiently  to  allow  the 
miserable  remnant  to  be  embarked  in  the  single  small 
vessel  that  remained  to  it.5 

«  According  to  the  Comendador  Pizarro  y  Orellana,  Francis  Pizarro 
served,  while  quite  a  stripling,  with  his  father,  in  the  Italian  wars,  and 
afterwards,  under  Columbus  and  other  illustrious  discoverers,  in  the 
New  World,  whose  successes  the  author  modestly  attributes  to  his 
kinsman's  valor  as  a  principal  cause  !  Varones  ilustres,  p.  187. 

s  Pizarro  y  Orellana,  Varones  ilustres,  pp.  121-128. — Herrera,  Hist, 
gen.,  dec.  i,  lib.  7,  cap.  14. — Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1^10. 


/f/S    I-.ARI.Y    HISTORY. 


207 


After  this,  we  find  him  associated  with  Balboa,  the 
discoverer  of  the  Pacific,  and  co-operating  with  him 
in  establishing  the  settlement  at  Darien.  He  had  the 
glory  of  accompanying  this  gallant  cavalier  in  his  ter- 
rible march  across  the  mountains,  and  of  being  among 
the  first  Europeans,  therefore,  whose  eyes  were  greeted 
with  the  long-promised  vision  of  the  Southern  Ocean. 

After  the  untimely  death  of  his  commander,  Pizarro 
attached  himself  to  the  fortunes  of  Pedrarias,  and  was 
employed  by  that  governor  in  several  military  expe- 
ditions, which,  if  they  afforded  nothing  else,  gave  him 
the  requisite  training  for  the  perils  and  privations  that 
lay  in  the  path  of  the  future  Conqueror  of  Peru. 

In  1515  he  was  selected,  with  another  cavalier, 
named  Morales,  to  cross  the  Isthmus  and  traffic  with 
the  natives  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  And  there, 
while  engaged  in  collecting  his  booty  of  gold  and 
pearls  from  the  neighboring  islands,  as  his  eye  ranged 
along  the  shadowy  line  of  coast  till  it  faded  in  the 
distance,  his  imagination  may  have  been  first  fired  with 
the  idea  of,  one  day,  attempting  the  conquest  of  the 
mysterious  regions  beyond  the  mountains.  On  the 
removal  of  the  seat  of  government  across  the  Isthmus 
to  Panama,  Pizarro  accompanied  Pedrarias,  and  his 
name  became  conspicuous  among  the  cavaliers  who 
extended  the  line  of  conquest  to  the  north  over  the 
martial  tribes  of  Veragua.  But  all  these  expeditions, 
whatever  glory  they  may  have  brought  him,  were  pro- 
ductive of  very  little  gold,  and  at  the  age  of  fifty  the 
captain  Pizarro  found  himself  in  possession  only  of  a 
tract  of  unhealthy  land  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
capital,  and  of  such  repartimientos  of  the  natives  as 


208  DISCOVERY   OF  PERU. 

were  deemed  suited  to  his  military  services.*  The 
New  World  was  a  lottery,  where  the  great  prizes  were 
so  few  that  the  odds  were  much  against  the  player ;  yet 
in  the  game  he  was  content  to  stake  health,  fortune, 
and,  too  often,  his  fair  fame. 

Such  was  Pizarro's  situation  when,  in  1522,  Andagoya 
returned  from  his  unfinished  enterprise  to  the  south  of 
Panama,  bringing  back  with  him  more  copious  accounts 
than  any  hitherto  received  of  the  opulence  and  grandeur 
of  the  countries  that  lay  beyond.7  It  was  at  this  time, 
too,  that  the  splendid  achievements  of  Cortes  made 
their  impression  on  the  public  mind  and  gave  a  new 
impulse  to  the  spirit  of  adventure.  The  southern  ex- 
peditions became  a  common  topic  of  speculation  among 
the  colonists  of  Panama.  But  the  region  of  gold,  as  it 
lay  behind  the  mighty  curtain  of  the  Cordilleras,  was 
still  veiled  in  obscurity.  No  idea  could  be  formed  of 
its  actual  distance ;  and  the  hardships  and  difficulties 
encountered  by  the  few  navigators  who  had  sailed  in 
that  direction  gave  a  gloomy  character  to  the  under- 
taking, which  had  hitherto  deterred  the  most  daring 
from  embarking  in  it.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
Pizarro  showed  any  particular  alacrity  in  the  cause. 

6"  Teniendo  su  casa,  i  Hacienda,  i  Repartimiento  de  Indies  como 
uno  de  los  Principales  de  la  Tierra ;  porque  siempre  lo  fue."  Xerer, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  79. 

7  Andagoya  says  that  he  obtained,  while  at  Biru,  very  minute  ac- 
counts of  the  empire  of  the  Incas,  from  certain  itinerant  traders  who 
frequented  that  country  :  "  En  esta  provincia  supe  y  hube  relacion, 
ansi  de  los  senores  como  de  mercaderes  e  interpretes  que  ellos  tenian, 
de  toda  la  costa  de  todo  lo  que  despues  se  ha  visto  hasta  el  Cuzco, 
particularmente  de  cada  provincia  la  manera  y  gente  della,  porque 
estos  alcanzaban  por  via  de  mercaduria  mucha  tierra."  Navarrete, 
Coleccion,  torn.  iii.  No.  7. 


FfA'ST   EXPEDITION    TO     THE    SOUTH. 


209 


Nor  were  his  own  funds  such  as  to  warrant  any  expec- 
tation of  success  without  great  assistance  from  others. 
He  found  this  in  two  individuals  pf  the  colony,  who 
took  too  important  a  part  in  the  subsequent  transactions 
not  to  be  particularly  noticed. 

One  of  them,  Diego  de  Almagro,  was  a  soldier  of 
fortune,  somewhat  older,  it  seems  probable,  than  Pi- 
erre ;  though  little  is  known  of  his  birth,  and  even 
the  place  of  it  is  disputed.  It  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  town  of  Almagro  in  New  Castile,  whence  his 
own  name,  for  want  of  a  better  source,  was  derived ; 
for,  like  Pizarro,  he  was  a  foundling.8  Few  particulars 
are  known  of  him  till  the  present  period  of  our  history  ; 
for  he  was  one  of  those  whom  the  working  of  turbulent 
times  first  throws  upon  the  surface, — less  fortunate, 
perhaps,  than  if  left  in  their  original  obscurity.  In 
his  military  career,  Almagro  had  earned  the  reputation 
of  a  gallant  soldier.  He  was  frank  and  liberal  in  his 
disposition,  somewhat  hasty  and  ungovernable  in  his 
passions,  but,  like  men  of  a  sanguine  temperament, 
after  the  first  sallies  had  passed  away,  not  difficult  to 
be  appeased.  He  had,  in  short,  the  good  qualities  and 
the  defects  incident  to  an  honest  nature  not  improved 
by  the  discipline  of  early  education  or  self-control. 

The  other  member  of  the  confederacy  was  Hernando 

8  "  Decia  el  que  herade  Almagro,"  says  Pedro  Pizarro,  who  knew 
him  well.  Relacion  del  Descubrimiento  y  Conquista  de  los  Reynos 
del  Peru,  MS.— See  also  Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  i.— 
Gomara,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  cap.  141. — Pizarro  y  Orellana,  Varones 
ilustres,  p.  211.  The  last  writer  admits  that  Almagro's  parentage  is 
unknown,  but  adds  that  the  character  of  his  early  exploits  infers  an 
illustrious  descent.  Thrs  would  scarcely  pass  for  evidence  with  the 
College  of  Heralds. 

1 8* 


210  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

de  Luque,  a  Spanish  ecclesiastic,  who  exercised  the 
functions  of  vicar  at  Panama,  and  had  formerly  filled 
the  office  of  schoolmaster  in  the  Cathedral  of  Darien. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  singular  prudence  and 
knowledge  of  the  world,  and  by  his  respectable  quali- 
ties had  acquired  considerable  influence  in  the  little 
community  to  which  he  belonged,  as  well  as  the  con- 
trol of  funds,  which  made  his  co-operation  essential  to 
the  success  of  the  present  enterprise. 

It  was  arranged  among  the  three  associates  that  the 
two  cavaliers  should  contribute  their  little  stock  towards 
defraying  the  expenses  of  the  armament,  but  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  the  funds  was  to  be  furnished  by  Luque. 
Pizarro  was  to  take  command  of  the  expedition,  and 
the  business  of  victualling  and  equipping  the  vessels 
was  assigned  to  Almagro.  The  associates  found  no 
difficulty  in  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  governor  to 
their  undertaking.  After  the  return  of  Andagoya,  he 
had  projected  another  expedition,  but  the  officer  to 
whom  it  was  to  be  intrusted  died.  Why  he  did  not 
prosecute  his  original  purpose,  and  commit  the  affair 
to  an  experienced  captain  like  Pizarro,  does  not  appear. 
He  was  probably  not  displeased  that  the  burden  of  the 
enterprise  should  be  borne  by  others,  so  long  as  a  good 
share  of  the  profits  went  into  his  own  coffers.  This  he 
did  not  overlook  in  his  stipulations.9 

9  "  Asi  que  estos  tres  companeros  ya  dichos  acordaron  de  yr  a  con- 
quistar  esta  provincia  ya  dicha.  Pues  consultandolo  con  Pedro  Arias 
de  Avila  que  a  la  sazon  hera  governador  en  tierra  firme,  vino  en 
ello  haziendo  compafiia  con  los  dichos  companeros  con  condicion  que 
Pedro  Arias  no  havia  de  contribuir  entonces  con  ningun  dinero  ni 
otra  cosa  sino  de  lo  que  se  hallase  en  la  tierra  de  lo  que  a  el  le  cupiese 
por  virtud  de  la  compania  de  alii  se  pagasen  los  gastos  que  £  el  le 


FIRST  EXPEDITION    TO    THE    SOUTH.       21 1 

Thus  fortified  with  the  funds  of  Luque  and  the  con- 
sent of  the  governor,  Almagro  was  not  slow  to  make 
preparations  for  the  voyage.  Two  small  vessels  were 
purchased,  the  larger  of  which  had  been  originally 
built  by  Balboa  for  himself,  with  a  view  to  this  same 
expedition.  Since  his  death,  it  had  lain  dismantled  in 
the  harbor  of  Panama.  It  was  now  refitted  as  well  as 
circumstances  would  permit,  and  put  in  order  for  sea, 
while  the  stores  and  provisions  were  got  on  board  with 
an  alacrity  which  did  more  credit,  as  the  event  proved, 
to  Almagro' s  zeal  than  to  his  forecast. 

There  was  more  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  necessary 
complement  of  hands  ;  for  a  general  feeling  of  distrust 
had  gathered  round  expeditions  in  this  direction,  which 
could  not  readily  be  overcome.  But  there  were  many 
idle  hangers-on  in  the  colony,  who  had  come  out  to 
mend  their  fortunes,  and  were  willing  to  take  their 
chance  of  doing  so,  however  desperate.  From  such 
materials  as  these,  Almagro  assembled  a  body  of  some- 
what more  than  a  hundred  men ; I0  and,  every  thing 

cupiesen.  Los  tres  companeros  vinieron  en  ello  por  aver  esta  licencia 
porque  de  otra  manera  no  la  alcanzaran."  (Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y 
Conq.,  MS.)  Andagoya,  however,  affirms  that  the  governor  was  in- 
terested equally  with  the  other  associates  in  the  adventure,  each  taking 
a  fourth  part  on  himself.  (Navarrete,  Coleccion,  torn.  iii.  No.  7.) 
But  whatever  was  the  original  interest  of  Pedrarias,  it  mattered  little, 
as  it  was  surrendered  before  any  profits  were  realized  from  the  ex- 
pedition. 

10  Herrera,  the  most  popular  historian  of  these  transactions,  esti- 
mates the  number  of  Pizarro's  followers  at  only  eighty.  But  every 
other  authority  which  I  have  consulted  raises  them  to  over  a  hundred. 
Father  Naharro,  a  contemporary,  and  resident  at  Lima,  even  allows  a 
hundred  and  twenty-nine.  Relacion  sumaria  de  la  Entrada  de  los 
Espanoles  en  el  Peru,  MS. 


212  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

being  ready,  Pizarro  assumed  the  command,  and,  weigh- 
ing anchor,  took  his  departure  from  the  little  port  of 
Panama  about  the  middle  of  November,  1524.  Al- 
magro  was  to  follow  in  a  second  vessel  of  inferior  size, 
as  soon  as  it  could  be  fitted  out." 

The  time  of  year  was  the  most  unsuitable  that  could 
have  been  selected  for  the  voyage ;  for  it  was  the  rainy 
season,  when  the  navigation  to  the  south,  impeded  by 
contrary  winds,  is  made  doubly  dangerous  by  the  tem- 
pests that  sweep  over  the  coast.  But  this  was  not 
understood  by  the  adventurers.  After  touching  at  the 
Isle  of  Pearls,  the  frequent  resort  of  navigators,  at  a 
few  leagues'  distance  from  Panama,  Pizarro  held  his 
way  across  the  Gulf  of  St.  Michael,  and  steered  almost 
due  south  for  the  Puerto  de  Pin" as,  a  headland  in  the 
province  of  Biruquete,  which  marked  the  limit  of  An- 
dagoya's  voyage.  Before  his  departure,  Pizarro  had 
obtained  all  the  information  which  he  could  derive 
from  that  officer  in  respect  to  the  country,  and  the 
route  he  was  to  follow.  But  the  cavalier's  own  experi- 
ence had  been  too  limited  to  enable  him  to  be  of  much 
assistance. 

Doubling  the  Puerto  de  Pifias,  the  little  vessel  en- 

11  There  is  the  usual  discrepancy  among  authors  about  the  date  of 
this  expedition.  Most  fix  it  at  1525.  I  have  conformed  to  Xerez, 
Pizarro's  secretary,  whose  narrative  was  published  ten  years  after  the 
voyage,  and  who  could  hardly  have  forgotten  the  date  of  so  memor- 
able an  event  in  so  short  an  interval  of  time.  (See  his  Conquista  del 
Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  179.) — The  year  seems  to  be  settled  by 
Pizarro's  Capitulation  with  the  crown,  which  I  had  not  examined  till 
after  the  above  was  written.  This  instrument,  dated  July,  1529,  speaks 
of  his  first  expedition  as  having  taken  place  about  five  years  previous 
(See  Appendix  No.  7.) 


D /STRESSES    OF    THE    VOYAGERS.  313 

tejed  the  river  Birii,  the  misapplication  of  which  name 
is  supposed  by  some  to  have  given  rise  to  that  of  the 
empire  of  the  Incas.12  After  sailing  up  this  stream  for 
a  couple  of  leagues,  Pizarro  came  to  anchor,  and,  dis- 
embarking his  whole  force  except  the  sailors,  proceeded 
at  the  head  of  it  to  explore  the  country.  The  land 
spread  out  into  a  vast  swamp,  where  the  heavy  rains 
had  settled  in  pools  of  stagnant  water,  and  the  muddy 
soil  afforded  no  footing  to  the  traveller.  This  dismal 
morass  was  fringed  with  woods,  through  whose  thick 
and  tangled  undergrowth  they  found  it  difficult  to  pene- 
trate ;  and,  emerging  from  them,  they  came  out  on  a 
hilly  country,  so  rough  and  rocky  in  its  character  that 
their  feet  were  cut  to  the  bone,  and  the  weary  soldier, 
encumbered  with  his  heavy  mail  or  thick-padded  doub- 
let of  cotton,  found  it  difficult  to  drag  one  foot  after 
the  other.  The  heat  at  times  was  oppressive ;  and, 
fainting  with  toil  and  famished  for  want  of  food,  they 
sank  down  oil  the  earth  from  mere  exhaustion.  Such 
was  the  ominous  commencement  of  the  expedition  to 
Peru. 

Pizarro,  however,  did  not  lose  heart.  He  endeavored 
to  revive  the  spirits  of  his  men,  and  besought  them  not 
to  be.-  discouraged  by  difficulties  which  a  brave  heart 
would  be  sure  to  overcome,  reminding  them  of  the 
golden  prize  which  awaited  those  who  persevered.  Yet 
it  "was  obvious  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  re- 
maining longer  in  this  desolate  region.  Returning  to 
their  vessel,  therefore,  it  was  suffered  to  drop  down 

"  Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  i.— Herrera,  Hist,  general, 
dec.  3,  lib.  6,  cap.  13. 


ai4  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

the  river  and  proceed  along  its  southern  course  on  the 
great  ocean. 

After  coasting  a  few  leagues,  Pizarro  anchored  off  a 

place  not  very  inviting  in  its  appearance,  where  he  took 

in  a  supply  of  wood  and  water.     Then,  stretching  more 

towards  the  open  sea,  he  held  on  in  the  same  direction 

towards  the  south.     But  in  this  he  was  baffled  by  a 

succession  of  heavy  tempests,  accompanied  with  such 

tremendous  peals  of  thunder  and  floods  of  rain  as  are 

fou?.^  Only  in  the  terrible  storms  of  the  tropics.     The 

sea  was  i«~v.«<i  jnto  fury,  and,  swelling  into  mountain 

billows,  threate..  j   every  mOment  to  overwhelm    the 

crazy  little  bark,  w..  ^  opened  at  every  seam      For 

ten  days  the  unfortunate     ^^  ^  ^^  ^^  ^ 

the  pitiless  elements,  and  it  incessant  exer- 

tions__the  exertions  of  desp.  preseTved 

the  ship  from  foundering.  ^  ~  ^._  ^ .^._ 


te  s 

their  provisions  began  to  ^  an<  were  short  of 
water,  of  which  they  ^^^  H  oniy  with  a 
small  number  of  casks  ;fc  A  counted  on 

e 


recruitng       ei     scany 


unpromising  than  the  aspect  of  the  ,mmtr^       re 
Jsame  character  of  low,  «-  * 


DISTRESSES    OE    THE    VOYAGEftS.  215 

stretched  along  the  coast  to  an  interminable  length. 
It  was  in  vain  that  the  wearied  Spaniards  endeavored 
to  thread  the  mazes  of  this  tangled  thicket,  where  the 
creepers  and  flowering  vines,  that  shoot  up  luxuriant 
in  a  hot  and  humid  atmosphere,  had  twined  themselves 
round  the  huge  trunks  of  the  forest-trees  and  made  a 
net-work  that  could  be  opened  only  with  the  axe.  The 
rain,  in  the  mean  time,  rarely  slackened,  and  the  ground, 
strewed  with  leaves  and  saturated  with  moisture,  seemed 
to  slip  away  beneath  their  feet. 

Nothing  could  be  more  dreary  and  disheartening 
than  the  aspect  of  these  funereal  forests,  where  the 
exhalations  from  the  overcharged  surface  of  the  ground 
poisoned  the  air,  and  seemed  to  allow  no  life,  except 
that,  indeed,  of  myriads  of  insects,  whose  enamelled 
wings  glanced  to  and  fro,  like  sparks  of  fire,  in  every 
opening  of  the  woods.  Even  the  brute  creation  ap- 
peared instinctively  to  have  shunned  the  fatal  spot,  and 
neither  beast  nor  bird  of  any  description  was  seen  by 
the  wanderers.  Silenced  reigned  unbroken  in  the 
heart  of  these  dismal^  solitudes ;  at  least,  the  only 
sounds  that  could  be  heard  were  the  plashing  of  the 
rain-drops  on  the  leaves,  and  the  tread  of  the  forlorn 
adventurers.13 

Entirely  discouraged  by  the  aspect  of  the  country, 
the  Spaniards  began  to  comprehend  that  they  had 
gained  nothing  by  changing  their  quarters  from  sea 
to  shore,  and  they  felt  the  most  serious  apprehensions 

•3  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  180. — Relacion  del 
primer  Descub.,  MS. — Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1515. — Za- 
rate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  i.— Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  *, 
lib.  i,  cap.  7. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  6,  cap.  13. 


216  DISCOVERY   OF   PERU. 

of  perishing  from  famine  in  a  region  which  afforded 
nothing  but  such  unwholesome  berries  as  they  could 
pick  here  and  there  in  the  woods.  They  loudly  com- 
plained of  their  hard  lot,  accusing  their  commander  as 
the  author  of  all  their  troubles,  and  as  deluding  them 
with  promises  of  a  fairy-land,  which  seemed  to  recede 
in  proportion  as  they  advanced.  It  was  of  no  use,  they 
said,  to  contend  against  fate,  and  it  was  better  to  take 
their  chance  of  regaining  the  port  of  Panama  in  time 
to  save  their  lives,  than  to  wait  where  they  were  to  die 
of  hunger. 

But  Pizarro  was  prepared  to  encounter  much  greater 
evils  than  these  before  returning  to  Panama,  bankrupt 
in  credit,  an  object  of  derision  as  a  vainglorious 
dreamer  who  had  persuaded  others  to  embark  in  an 
adventure  which  he  had  not  the  courage  to  carry 
through  himself.  The  present  was  his  only  chance. 
To  return  would  be  ruin.  He  used  every  argument, 
therefore,  that  mortified  pride  or  avarice  could  suggest 
to  turn  his  followers  from  their  purpose ;  represented 
to  them  that  these  were  the  troubles  that  necessarily 
lay  in  the  path  of  the  discoverer,  and  called  to  mind 
the  brilliant  successes  of  their  countrymen  in  other 
quarters,  and  the  repeated  reports  which  they  had 
themselves  received  of  the  rich  regions  along  this 
coast,  of  which  it  required  only  courage  and  constancy 
on  their  part  to  become  the  masters.  Yet,  as  their 
present  exigencies  were  pressing,  he  resolved  to  send 
back  the  vessel  to  the  Isle  of  Pearls,  to  lay  in  a  fresh 
stock  of  provisions  for  his  company,  which  might 
enable  them  to  go  forward  with  renewed  confidence. 
The  distance  was  not  great,  and  in  a  few  days  they 


DISTRESSES    OF    7 HE    VOYAGERS.  217 

would  all  be  relieved  from  their  perilous  position.  The 
officer  detached  on  this  service  was  named  Montenegro  ; 
and,  taking  with  him  nearly  half  the  company,  after  re- 
ceiving Pizarro's  directions,  he  instantly  weighed  anchor 
and  steered  for  the  Isle  of  Pearls. 

On  the  departure  of  his  vessel,  the  Spanish  com- 
mander made  an  attempt  to  explore  the  country  and 
see  if  some  Indian  settlement  might  not  be  found, 
where  he  could  procure  refreshments  for  his  followers. 
But  his  efforts  were  vain,  and  no  trace  was  visible  of  a 
human  dwelling ;  though  in  the  dense  and  impenetra- 
ble foliage  of  the  equatorial  regions  the  distance  of  a 
few  rods  might  suffice  to  screen  a  city  from  observa- 
tion. The  only  means  of  nourishment  left  to  the  un- 
fortunate adventurers  were  such  shell-fish  as  they  occa- 
sionally picked  up  on  the  shore,  or  the  bitter  buds  of 
the  palm-tree,  and  such  berries  and  unsavory  herbs  as 
grew  wild  in  the  woods.  Some  of  these  were  so  poison- 
ous that  the  bodies  of  those  who  ate  them  swelled  up 
and  were  tormented  with  racking  pains.  Others,  pre- 
ferring famine  to  this  miserable  diet,  pined  away  from 
weakness  and  actually  died  of  starvation.  Yet  their 
resolute  leader  strove  to  maintain  his  own  cheerfulness 
and  to  keep  up  the  drooping  spirits  of  his  men.  He 
freely  shared  with  them  his  scanty  stock  of  provisions, 
was  unwearied  in  his  endeavors  to  procure  them  sus- 
tenance, tended  the  sick,  and  ordered  barracks  to  be 
constructed  for  their  accommodation,  which  might  at 
least  shelter  them  from  the  drenching  storms  of  the 
season.  By  this  ready  sympathy  with  his  followers  in 
their  sufferings  he  obtained  an  ascendency  over  their 
rough  natures  which  the  assertion  of  authority,  at  least 
Peru. — VOL.  I. — K  19 


218  DISCOVERY   OF  PERU. 

in  the  present  extremity,  could  never  have  secured  to 
him. 

Day  after  day,  week  after  week,  had  now  passed 
away,  and  no  tidings  were  heard  of  the  vessel  that  was 
to  bring  relief  to  the  wanderers.  In  vain  did  they 
strain  their  eyes  over  the  distant  waters  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  their  coming  friends.  Not  a  speck  was  to 
be  seen  in  the  blue  distance,  where  the  canoe  of  the 
savage  dared  not  venture,  and  the  sail  of  the  white 
man  was  not  yet  spread.  Those  who  had  borne  up 
bravely  at  first  now  gave  way  to  despondency,  as  they 
felt  themselves  abandoned  by  their  countrymen  on  this 
desolate  shore.  They  pined  under  that  sad  feeling 
which  "maketh  the  heart  sick."  More  than  twenty 
of  the  little  band  had  already  died,  and  the  survivors 
seemed  to  be  rapidly  following.1* 

At  this  crisis  reports  were  brought  to  Pizarro  of  a 
light  having  been  seen  through  a  distant  opening  in 
the  woods.  He  hailed  the  tidings  with  eagerness,  as 
intimating  the  existence  of  some  settlement  in  the 
neighborhood,  and,  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  a 
small  party,  went  in  the  direction  pointed  out,  to  re- 
connoitre. He  was  not  disappointed,  and,  after  extri- 
cating himself  from  a  dense  wilderness  of  underbrush 
and  foliage,  he  emerged  into  an  open  space,  where  a 
small  Indian  village  was  planted.  The  timid  inhabit- 
ants, on  the  sudden  apparition  of  the  strangers,  quitted 
their  huts  in  dismay ;  and  the  famished  Spaniards, 
rushing  in,  eagerly  made  themselves  masters  of  their 
contents.  These  consisted  of  different  articles  of  food, 

'4  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  6,  cap.  13. — Relacion  del 
primer  Descub.,  MS.— Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ubi  supra. 


DISTRESSES    OJ-     THE    VOYAGERS. 


219 


chiefly  maize  and  cocoanuts.  The  supply,  though 
small,  was  too  seasonable  not  to  fill  th  ,m  with  rapture. 
The  astonished  natives  made  no  attempt  at  resist- 
ance. But,  gathering  more  confidence  as  no  violence 
was  offered  to  their  persons,  they  drew  nearer  the  white 
men,  and  inquired,  "Why  they  did  not  stay  at  home 
and  till  their  own  lands,  instead  of  roaming  about  to 
rob  others  who  had  never  harmed  them  ?' ' 1S  Whatever 
may  have  been  their  opinion  as  to  the  question  of 
right,  the  Spaniards,  no  doubt,  felt  then  that  it  would 
have  been  wiser  to  do  so.  But  the. savages  wore  about 
their  persons  gold  ornaments  of  some  size,  though  of 
clumsy  workmanship.  This  furnished  the  best  reply  to 
their  demand.  It  was  the  golden  bait  which  lured  the 
Spanish  adventurer  to  forsake  his  pleasant  home  for 
the  trials  of  the  wilderness.  From  the  Indians  Pizarro 
gathered  a  confirmation  of  the  reports  he  had  so  often 
received  of  a  rich  country  lying  farther  south  ;  and  at 
the  distance  of  ten  days'  journey  across  the  mountains, 
they  told  him,  there  dwelt  a  mighty  monarch  whose 
dominions  had  been  invaded  by  another  still  more 
powerful,  the  Child  of  the  Sun.'6  It  may  have  been 

»5  "  Porque  decian  a  los  Castellanos,  que  por  que  no  sembraban,  i 
cogian,  sin  andar  tomando  los  Bastimentos  agenos,  pasando  tantos 
trabajos?"  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  loc.  cit. 

16  "  Dioles  noticia  el  viejo  por  medio  del  lengua,  como  diez  soles 
de  alii  habia  un  Rev  muy  poderoso  yendo  por  espesas  montanas.  y 
que  otro  mas  poderoso  hijo  del  sol  habia  venido  de  milagro  &  quitarle 
el  Reino  sobre  que  tenian  mui  sangrientas  batallas."  (Montesinos. 
Annales,  MS.,  ano  1525.)  The  conquest  of  Quito  by  Huayna  Capac 
took  place  more  than  thirty  years  before  this  period  in  our  history. 
But  the  particulars  of  this  revolution,  its  time  or  precise  theatre,  were 
probably  but  very  vaguely  comprehended  by  the  rude  nations  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Panamd  ;  and  their  allusion  to  it  in  an  unknown  dia- 


220  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

the  invasion  of  Quito  that  was  meant,  by  the  valiant 
Inca  Huayna  Capac,  which  took  place  some  years  pre- 
vious to  Pizarro's  expedition. 

At  length,  after  the  expiration  of  more  than  six 
weeks,  the  Spaniards  beheld  with  delight  the  return 
of  the  wandering  bark  that  had  borne  away  their  com- 
rades, and  Montenegro  sailed  into  port  with  an  ample 
supply  of  provisions  for  his  famishing  countrymen. 
Great  was  his  horror  at  the  aspect  presented  by  the 
latter,  their  wild  and  haggard  countenances  and  wasted 
frames, — so  wasted  by  hunger  and  disease  that  their 
old  companions  found  it  difficult  to  recognize  them. 
Montenegro  accounted  for  his  delay  by  incessant  head- 
winds and  bad  weather;  and  he  himself  had  also  a 
doleful  tale  to  tell  of  the  distress  to  which  he  and  his 
crew  had  been  reduced  by  hunger  on  their  passage  to 
the  Isle  of  Pearls.  It  is  minute  incidents  like  these 
with  which  we  have  been  occupied  that  enable  one  to 
comprehend  the  extremity  of  suffering  to  which  the 
Spanish  adventurer  was  subjected  in  the  prosecution  of 
his  great  work  of  discovery. 

Revived  by  the  substantial  nourishment  to  which 
they  had  so  long  been  strangers,  the  Spanish  cavaliers, 
with  the  buoyancy  that  belongs  to  men  of  a  hazardous 
and  roving  life,  forgot  their  past  distresses  in  their 
eagerness  to  prosecute  their  enterprise.  Re-embark- 
ing, therefore,  on  board  his  vessel,  Pizarro  bade  adieu 
to  the  scene  of  so  much  suffering,  which  he  branded 
with  the  appropriate  name  of  Puerto  de  la  Hambre, 
the  Port  of  Famine,  and  again  opened  his  sails  to  a 

lect  was  as  little  comprehended  by  the  Spanish  voyagers,  \vho  must 
have  collected  their  information  from  signs  much  more  than  words. 


DJSTR&5SES    OF    THE    VO  YAGERS.  221 

favorable  breeze  that  bore  him  onwards  towards  the 
south. 

Had  he  struck  boldly  out  into  the  deep,  instead  of 
hugging  the  inhospitable  shore,  where  he  had  hitherto 
found  so  little  to  recompense  him,  he  might  have 
spared  himself  the  repetition  of  wearisome  and  un- 
profitable adventures  and  reached  by  a  shorter  route 
the  point  of  his  destination.  But  the  Spanish  mariner 
groped  his  way  along  these  unknown  coasts,  landing  at 
every  convenient  headland,  as  if  fearful  lest  some  fruit- 
ful region  or  precious  mine  might  be  overlooked  should 
a  single  break  occur  in  the  line  of  survey.  Yet  it 
should  be  remembered  that,  though  the  true  point  of 
Pizarro's  destination  is  obvious  to  us,  familiar  with  the 
topography  of  these  countries,  he  was  wandering  in 
the  dark,  feeling  his  way  along  inch  by  inch,  as  it 
were,  without  chart  to  guide  him,  without  knowledge 
of  the  seas  or  of  the  bearings  of  the  coast,  and  even 
with  no  better  defined  idea  of  the  object  at  which  he 
aimed  than  that  of  a  land,  teeming  with  gold,  that  lay 
somewhere  at  the  south  !  It  was  a  hunt  for  an  El 
Dorado,  on  information  scarcely  more  circumstantial 
or  authentic  than  that  which  furnished  the  basis  of  so 
many  chimerical  enterprises  in  this  land  of  wonders. 
Success  only,  the  best  argument  with  the  multitude, 
redeemed  the  expeditions  of  Pizarro  from  a  similar 
imputation  of  extravagance. 

Holding  on  his  southerly  course  under  the  lee  of 
the  shore,  Pizarro,  after  a  short  run,  found  himself 
abreast  of  an  open  reach  of  country,  or  at  least  one 
less  encumbered  with  wood,  which  rose  by  a  gradual 
swell  as  it  receded  from  the  coast.  He  landed  with  a 
19* 


222  DISCOVERY   OF  PERL'. 

small  body  of  men,  and,  advancing  a  short  distance 
into  the  interior,  fell  in  with  an  Indian  hamlet.  It 
was  abandoned  by  the  inhabitants,  who  on  the  approach 
of  the  invaders  had  betaken  themselves  to  the  moun- 
tains ;  and  the  Spaniards,  entering  their  deserted  dwell- 
ings, found  there  a  good  store  of  maize  and  other 
articles  of  food,  and  rude  ornaments  of  gold  of  con- 
siderable value.  Food  was  not  more  necessary  for 
their  bodies  than  was  the  sight  of  gold,  from  time  to 
time,  to  stimulate  their  appetite  for  adventure.  One 
spectacle,  however,  chilled  their  blood  with  horror. 
This  was  the  sight  of  human  flesh,  which  they  found 
roasting  before  the  fire,  as  the  barbarians  had  left  it, 
preparatory  to  their  obscene  repast.  The  Spaniards, 
conceiving  that  they  had  fallen  in  with  a  tribe  of 
Caribs,  the  only  race  in  that  part  of  the  New  World 
known  to  be  cannibals,  retreated  precipitately  to  their 
vessel.17  They  were  not  steeled  by  sad  familiarity  with 
the  spectacle,  like  the  Conquerors  of  Mexico. 

The  weather,  which  had  been  favorable,  now  set  in 
tempestuous,  with  heavy  squalls,  accompanied  by  in- 
cessant thunder  and  lightning,  and  the  rain,  as  usual 
in  these  tropical  tempests,  descended  not  so  much  in 
drops  as  in  unbroken  sheets  of  water.  The  Spaniards, 
however,  preferred  to  take  their  chance  on  the  raging 
element  rather  than  remain  in  the  scene  of  such  brutal 
abominations.  But  the  fury  of  the  storm  gradually 
subsided,  and  the  little  vessel  held  on  her  way  along 

*7  "  I  en  las  Ollas  de  la  comida,  que  estaban  al  Fuego,  entre  la 
Came,  que  sacaban,  havia  Pies  i  Manos  de  Hombres,  de  donde  cono- 
cieron,  que  aquellos  Indies  eran  Caribes."  Herrera,  Hist,  general, 
dec.  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  u. 


Sff.-IAT    ENCOUNTERS. 


223 


the  coast,  till,  coming  abreast  of  a  bold  point  of  land 
named  by  Pizarro  Punta  Quemada,  he  gave  orders  to 
anchor.  The  margin  of  the  shore  was  fringed  with  a 
deep  belt  of  mangrove-trees,  the  long  roots  of  which, 
interlacing  one  another,  formed  a  kind  of  submarine 
lattice-work  that  made  the  place  difficult  of  approach. 
Several  avenues,  opening  through  this  tangled  thicket, 
led  Pizarro  to  conclude  that  the  country  must  be  in- 
habited, and  he  disembarked,  with  the  greater  part  of 
his  force,  to  explore  the  interior. 

He  had  not  penetrated  more  than  a  league  when  he 
found  his  conjecture  verified  by  the  sight  of  an  Indian 
town,  of  larger  size  than  those  he  had  hitherto  seen, 
occupying  the  brow  of  an  eminence,  and  well  defended 
by  palisades.  The  inhabitants,  as  usual,  had  fled,  but 
left  in  their  dwellings  a  good  supply  of  provisions  and 
some  gold  trinkets,  which  the  Spaniards  made  no  diffi- 
culty of  appropriating  to  themselves.  Pizarro's  flimsy 
bark  had  been  strained  by  the  heavy  gales  it  had  of 
late  encountered,  so  that  it  was  unsafe  to  prosecute  the 
voyage  farther  without  more  thorough  repairs  than 
could  be  given  to  her  on  this  desolate  coast.  He  ac- 
cordingly determined  to  send  her  back  with  a  few  hands 
to  be  careened  at  Panama,  and  meanwhile  to  establish 
his  quarters  in  his  present  position,  which  was  so  favor- 
able for  defence.  But  first  he  despatched  a  small  party 
under  Montenegro  to  reconnoitre  the  country,  and,  if 
possible,  to  open  a  communication  with  the  natives. 

The  latter  were  a  warlike  race.  They  had  left  their 
habitations  in  order  to  place  their  wives  and  children 
in  safety.  But  they  had  kept  an  eye  on  the  movements 
of  the  invaders,  and  when  they  saw  their  forces  divided 


224  DISCOVERY    OF   PEKC. 

they  resolved  to  fall  upon  each  body  singly  before  it 
could  communicate  with  the  other.  So  soon,  there- 
fore, as  Montenegro  had  penetrated  through  the  defiles 
of  the  lofty  hills  which  shoot  out  like  spurs  of  the  Cor- 
dilleras along  this  part  of  the  coast,  the  Indian  war- 
riors, springing  from  their  ambush,  sent  off  a  cloud  of 
arrows  and  other  missiles  that  darkened  the  air,  while 
they  made  the  forest  ring  with  their  shrill  war-whoop. 
The  Spaniards,  astonished  at  the  appearance  of  the 
savages,  with  their  naked  bodies  gaudily  painted,  and 
brandishing  their  weapons  as  they  glanced  among  the 
trees  and  straggling  underbrush  that  choked  up  the 
defile,  were  taken  by  surprise  and  thrown  for  a  moment 
into  disarray.  Three  of  their  number  were  killed  and 
several  wounded.  Yet,  speedily  rallying,  they  returned 
the  discharge  of  the  assailants  with  their  cross-bows, — 
for  Pizarro's  troops  do  not  seem  to  have  been  provided 
with  muskets  on  this  expedition, — and  then,  gallantly 
charging  the  enemy,  sword  in  hand,  succeeded  in ' 
driving  them  back  into  the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains. 
But  it  only  led  them  to  shift  their  operations  to  another 
quarter,  and  make  an  assault  on  Pizarro  before  he  could 
be  relieved  by  his  lieutenant. 

Availing  themselves  of  their  superior  knowledge  of 
the  passes,  they  reached  that  commander's  quarters 
long  before  Montenegro,  who  had  commenced  a  coun- 
termarch in  the  same  direction  ;  and,  issuing  from  the 
woods,  the  bold  savages  saluted  the  Spanish  garrison 
with  a  tempest  of  darts  and  arrows,  some  of  which 
found  their  way  through  the  joints  of  the  harness  and 
the  quilted  mail  of  the  cavaliers.  But  Pizarro  was  too 
well-practised  a  soldier  to  be  off  his  guard.  Calling 


S//.-1  AT    I-:\CO t  \\'TKKS. 


225 


his  men  about  him,  he  resolved  not  to  abide  the  assault 
tamely  in  the  works,  but  to  sally  out  and  meet  the 
enemy  on  their  own  ground.  The  barbarians,  who 
had  advanced  near  the  defences,  fell  back  as  the  Span- 
iards burst  forth  with  their  valiant  leader  at  their  head. 
But,  soon  returning  with  admirable  ferocity  to  the 
charge,  they  singled  out  Pizarro,  whom  by  his  bold 
bearing  and  air  of  authority  they  easily  recognized  as 
the  chief,  and,  hurling  at  him  a  storm  of  missiles, 
wounded  him,  in  spite  of  his  armor,  in  no  less  than 
seven  places.'8 

Driven  back  by  the  fury  of  the  assault  directed 
against  his  own  person,  the  Spanish  commander  re- 
treated down  the  slope  of  the  hill,  still  defending  him- 
self as  he  could  with  sword  and  buckler,  when  his  foot 
slipped,  and  he  fell.  The  enemy  set  up  a  fierce  yell  of 
triumph,  and  some  of  the  boldest  sprang  forward  to 
despatch  him.  But  Pizarro  was  on  his  feet  in  an  in- 
stant, and,  striking  down  two  of  the  foremost  with  his 
strong  arm,  held  the  rest  at  bay  till  his  soldiers  could 
come  to  the  rescue.  The  barbarians,  struck  with  ad- 
miration at  his  valor,  began  to  falter,  when  Montenegro 
luckily  coming  on  the  ground  at  the  moment,  and 
falling  on  their  rear,  completed  their  confusion  ;  and, 
abandoning  the  field,  they  made  the  best  of  their  way 
into  the  recesses  of  the  mountains.  The  ground  was 
covered  with  their  slain  ;  but  the  victory  was  dearly 
purchased  by  the  death  of  two  more  Spaniards  and  a 
long  list  of  wounded. 

18  Xaharro,  Relacion    sumaria,  MS. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap. 
Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  180. — Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  I,  cap.  I. — Bal- 
boa, Hist,  du  Perou,  chap.  15. 
K* 


226  D/SCOl'KRY    OF    PERU. 

A  council  of  war  was  then  called.  The  position  had 
lost  its  charm  in  the  eyes  of  the  Spaniards,  who  had 
met  here  with  the  first  resistance  they  had  yet  expe- 
rienced on  their  expedition.  It  was  necessary  to  place 
the  wounded  in  some  secure  spot,  where  their  injuries 
could  be  attended  to.  Yet  it  was  not  safe  to  proceed 
farther,  in  the  crippled  state  of  their  vessel.  On  the 
whole,  it  was  decided  to  return  and  report  their  pro- 
ceedings to  the  governor  ;  and,  though  the  magnificent 
hopes  of  the  adventurers  had  not  been  realized,  Pizarro 
trusted  that  enough  had  been  done  to  vindicate  the 
importance  of  the  enterprise  and  to  secure  the  counte- 
nance of  Pedrarias  for  the  further  prosecution  of  it.'9 

Yet  Pizarro  could  not- make  up  his  mind  to  present 
himself,  in  the  present  state  of  the  undertaking,  before 
the  governor.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  be  set  on 
shore  with  the  principal  part  of  his  company  at  Chi- 
cama,  a  place  on  the  main  land,  at  a  short  distance 
west  of  Panama.  From  this  place,  which  he  reached 
without  any  further  accident,  he  despatched  the  vessel, 
and  in  it  his  treasurer,  Nicolas  de  Ribera,  with  the  gold 
he  had  collected,  and  with  instructions  to  lay  before 
the  governor  a  full  account  of  his  discoveries  and  the 
result  of  the  expedition. 

While  these  events  were  passing,  Pizarro's  associate, 
Almagro,  had  been  busily  employed  in  fitting  out  an- 
other vessel  for  the  expedition  at  the  port  of  Panama. 
It  was  not  till  long  after  his  friend's  departure  that  he 
was  prepared  to  follow  him.  With  the  assistance  of 
Luque,  he  at  length  succeeded  in  equipping  a  small 
caravel  and  embarking  a  body  of  between  sixty  and 

'9  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  n. — Xerez,  jibi  supra. 


A  L. MACRO'S    EXPEDITION.  227 

seventy  adventurers,  mostly  of  the  lowest  order  of  the 
colonists.  He  steered  in  the  track  of  his  comrade, 
with  the  intention  of  overtaking  him  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble. By  a  signal  previously  concerted  of  notching  the 
trees,  he  was  able  to  identify  the  spots  visited  by  Pizarro, 
— Puerto  de  Pifias,  Puerto  de  la  Hambre,  Pueblo  Que- 
mado, — touching  successively  at  every  point  of  the 
coast  explored  by  his  countrymen,  though  in  a  much 
shorter  time.  At  the  last-mentioned  place  he  was  re- 
ceived by  the  fierce  natives  with  the  same  hostile 
demonstrations  as  Pizarro,  though  in  the  present  en- 
counter the  Indians  did  not  venture  beyond  their 
defences.  But  the  hot  blood  of  Almagro  was  so  exas- 
perated by  this  check  that  he  assaulted  the  place  and 
carried  it  sword  in  hand,  setting  fire  to  the  outworks 
and  dwellings,  and  driving  the  wretched  inhabitants 
into  the  forests. 

His  victory  cost  him  dear.  A  wound  from  a  javelin 
on  the  head  caused  an  inflammation  in  one  of  his  eyes, 
which,  after  great  anguish,  ended  in  the  loss  of  it.  Yet 
the  intrepid  adventurer  did  not  hesitate  to  pursue  his 
voyage,  and,  after  touching  at  several  places  on  the 
coast,  some  of  which  rewarded  him  with  a  considerable 
booty  in  gold,  he  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  San 
Juan,  about  the  fourth  degree  of  north  latitude.  He 
was  struck  with  the  beauty  of  the  stream,  and  with  the 
cultivation  on  its  borders,  which  were  sprinkled  with 
Indian  cottages  showing  some  skill  in  their  construc- 
tion, and  altogether  intimating  a  higher  civilization 
than  any  thing  he  had  yet  seen. 

Still  his  mind  was  filled  with  anxiety  for  the  fate  of 
Pizarro  and  his  followers.  No  trace  of  them  had  been 


228  DISCOVERY    OF  PERU. 

found  on  the  coast  for  a  long  time,  and  it  was  evident 
they  must  have  foundered  at  sea  or  made  their  way 
back  to  Panama.  This  last  he  deemed  most  probable  ; 
as  the  vessel  might  have  passed  him  unnoticed  under 
the  cover  of  the  night  or  of  the  dense  fogs  that  some- 
times hang  over  the  coast. 

Impressed  with  this  belief,  he  felt  no  heart  to  con- 
tinue ,his  voyage  of  discovery,  for  which,  indeed,  his 
single  bark,  with  its  small  complement  of  men,  was 
altogether  inadequate.  He  proposed,  therefore,  to  re- 
turn without  delay.  On  his  way  he  touched  at  the  Isle 
of  Pearls,  and  there  learned  the  result  of  his  friend's 
expedition  and  the  place  of  his  present  residence.  He 
directed  his  course  at  once  to  Chicama,  where  the  two 
cavaliers  soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  embracing  each 
other  and  recounting  their  several  exploits  and  escapes. 
Almagro  returned  even  better  freighted  with  gold  than 
his  confederate,  and  at  every  step  of  his  progress  he 
had  collected  fresh  confirmation  of  the  existence  of 
some  great  and  opulent  empire  in  the  South.  The 
confidence  of  the  two  friends  was  much  strengthened 
by  their  discoveries ;  and  they  unhesitatingly  pledged 
themselves  to  one  another  to  die  rather  than  abandon 
the  enterprise." 

The  best  means  of  obtaining  the  levies  requisite  for 
so  formidable  an  undertaking — more  formidable,  as  it 
now  .appeared  to  them,  than  before— were  made  the 

30  Xerez,  ubi  supra. — Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. — Zarate, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  loc.  cit. — Balboa,  Hist,  du  P£rou,  chap.  15. — Rela- 
cion del  primer  Descub.,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  8, 
cap.  13.— Levinus  Apollonius,  fol.  12.— Gomara,  Hist,  de  las  Ind., 
cap.  108. 


ALMAGRO'S  EXPEDITION.  229 

subject  of  long  and  serious  discussion.  It  was  at 
length  decided  that  Pizarro  should  remain  in  his  pres- 
ent quarters,  inconvenient  and  even  unwholesome  as 
they  were  rendered  by  the  humidity  of  the  climate  and 
the  pestilent  swarms  of  insects  that  filled  the  atmos- 
phere. Almagro  would  pass  over  to  Panama,  lay  the 
case  before  the  governor,  and  secure,  if  possible,  his 
good  will  towards  the  prosecution  of  the  enterprise. 
If  no  obstacle  were  thrown  in  their  way  from  this 
quarter,  they  might  hope,  with  the  assistance  of  Luque, 
to  raise  the  necessary  supplies ;  while  the  results  of  the 
recent  expedition  were  sufficiently  encouraging  to  draw 
adventurers  to  their  standard  in  a  community  which 
had  a  craving  for  excitement  that  gave  even  danger  a 
charm,  and  which  held  life  cheap  in  comparison  with 
gold. 


Peru. — VOL.  i. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE     FAMOUS    CONTRACT. SECOND    EXPEDITION. — RUIZ 

EXPLORES     THE     COAST. — PIZARRo's      SUFFERINGS     IN 

THE    FORESTS. ARRIVAL    OF    NEW    RECRUITS. FRESH 

DISCOVERIES  AND   DISASTERS. — PIZARRO   ON   THE   ISLE 
OF  GAi^O. 

1526-1527. 

ON  his  arrival  at  Panama,  Almagro  found  that 
events  had  taken  a  turn  less  favorable  to  his  views 
than  he  had  anticipated.  Pedrarias,  the  governor, 
was  preparing  to  lead  an  expedition  in  person  against 
a  rebellious  officer  in  Nicaragua ;  and  his  temper,  natu- 
rally not  the  most  amiable,  was  still  further  soured  by 
this  defection  of  his  lieutenant  and  the  necessity  it  im- 
posed on  him  of  a  long  and  perilous  march.  When, 
therefore,  Almagro  appeared  before  him  with  the  re- 
quest that  he  might  be  permitted  to  raise  further  levies 
to  prosecute  his  enterprise,  the  governor  received  him 
with  obvious  dissatisfaction,  listened  coldly  to  the  nar- 
rative of  his  losses,  turned  an  incredulous  ear  to  his 
magnificent  promises  for  the  future,  and  bluntly  de- 
manded an  account  of  the  lives  which  had  been  sacri- 
ficed by  Pizarro's  obstinacy,  but  which,  had  they  been 
spared,  might  have  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  his 
present  expedition  to  Nicaragua.  He  positively  de- 
clined to  countenance  the  rash  schemes  of  the  two 
adventurers  any  longer,  and  the  conquest  of  Peru 
(230) 


THE    /-AMOCS  CONTRACT. 


231 


would  have  been  crushed  in  the  bud,  but  for  the  effi- 
cient interposition  of  the  remaining  associate,  Fernando 
de  Luque. 

This  sagacious  ecclesiastic  had  received  a  very  dif- 
ferent impression  from  Almagro's  narrative  from  that 
which  had  been  made  on  the  mind  of  the  irritable 
governor.  The  actual  results  of  the  enterprise  in  gold 
and  silver  thus  far,  indeed,  had  been  small, — forming 
a  mortifying  contrast  to  the  magnitude  of  their  ex- 
pectations. But  in  another  point  of  view  they  were  of 
the  last  importance ;  since  the  intelligence  which  the 
adventurers  had  gained  at  every  successive  stage  of 
their  progress  confirmed,  in  the  strongest  manner,  the 
previous  accounts,  received  from  Andagoya  and  others, 
of  a  rich  Indian  empire  at  the  south,  which  might 
repay  the  trouble  of  conquering  it  as  well  as  Mexico 
had  repaid  the  enterprise  of  Cortes.  Fully  entering, 
therefore,  into  the  feelings  of  his  military  associates, 
he  used  all  his  influence  with  the  governor  to  incline 
him  to  a  more  favorable  view  of  Almagro's  petition ; 
and  no  one  in  the  little  community  of  Panama  exer- 
cised greater  influence  over  the  councils  of  the  executive 
than  Father  Luque,  for  which  he  was  indebted  no  less 
to  his  discretion  and  acknowledged  sagacity  than  to  his 
professional  station. 

But  while  Pedrarias,  overcome  by  the  arguments  or 
importunity  of  the  churchman,  yielded  a  reluctant  assent 
to  the  application,  he  took  care  to  testify  his  displeasure 
with  Pizarro,  on  whom  he  particularly  charged  the  loss 
of  his  followers,  by  naming  Almagro  as  his  equal  in 
command  in  the  proposed  expedition.  This  mortifi- 
cation sank  deep  into  Pizarro's  mind.  He  suspected 


232 


DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 


his  comrade,  with  what  reason  does  not  appear,  of 
soliciting  this  boon  from  the  governor.  A  temporary 
coldness  arose  between  them,  which  subsided,  in  out- 
ward show  at  least,  on  Pizarro's  reflecting  that  it  was 
better  to  have  this  authority  conferred  on  a  friend  than 
on  a  stranger,  perhaps  an  enemy.  But  the  seeds  of 
permanent  distrust  were  left  in  his  bosom,  and  lay 
waiting  for  the  due  season  to  ripen  into  a  fruitful  har- 
vest of  discord.1 

Pedrarias  had  been  originally  interested  in  the  enter- 
prise, at  least  so  far  as  to  stipulate  for  a  share  of  the 
gains,  though  he  had  not  contributed,  as  it  appears,  a 
single  ducat  towards  the  expenses.  He  was  at  length, 
however,  induced  to  relinquish  all  right  to  a  share  of 
the  contingent  profits.  But  in  his  manner  of  doing  so 
he  showed  a  mercenary  spirit  better  becoming  a  petty 
trader  than  a  high  officer  of  the  crown.  He  stipulated 
that  the  associates  should  secure  to  him  the  sum  of  one 
thousand  pesos  de  oro  in  requital  of  his  good  will,  and 
they  eagerly  closed  with  his  proposal,  rather  than  be 
encumbered  with  his  pretensions.  For  so  paltry  a  con- 
sideration did  he  resign  his  portion  of  the  rich  spoil  of 
the  Incas  ! 2  But  the  governor  was  not  gifted  with  the 

1  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  180. — Montesinos, 
Annales,  MS.,  afio  1526.— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  8,  cap. 
12. 

a  Such  is  the  account  of  Oviedo,  who  was  present  at  the  interview 
between  the  governor  and  Almagro  when  the  terms  of  compensation 
were  discussed.  The  dialogue,  which  is  amusing  enough,  and  well 
told  by  the  old  Chronicler,  may  be  found  translated  in  Appendix  No. 
5.  Another  version  of  the  affair  is  given  in  the  Relation,  often  quoted 
by  me,  of  one  of  the  Peruvian  conquerors,  in  which  Pedrarias  is  said 
to  have  gone  out  of  the  partnership  voluntarily,  from  his  disgust  at 
the  unpromising  state  of  affairs  :  "  Vueltos  con  la  dicha  geiite  &  Pa< 


THE    J-AMOUS  CONTRACT.  233 

eye  of  a  prophet.  His  avarice  was  of  that  short- 
sighted kind  which  defeats  itself.  He  had  sacrificed 
the  chivalrous  Balboa  just  as  that  officer  was  opening 
to  him  the  conquest  of  Peru,  and  he  would  now  have 
quenched  the  spirit  of  enterprise,  that  was  taking  the 
same  direction,  in  Pizarro  and  his  associates. 

Not  long  after  this,  in  the  following  year,  he  was 
succeeded  in  his  government  by  Don  Pedro  de  los 
Rios,  a  cavalier  of  Cordova.  It  was  the  policy  of  the 
Castilian  crown  to  allow  no  one  of  the  great  colonial 
officers  to  occupy  the  same  station  so  long  as  to  render 
himself  formidable  by  his  authority.3  It  had,  more- 
over, many  particular  causes  of  disgust  with  Pedrarias. 
The  functionary  sent  out  to  succeed  him  was  fortified 
with  ample  instructions  for  the  good  of  the  colony, 

nama,  destrozados  y  gastados  que  ya  no  tenian  haciendas  para  tornar 
con  provisiones  y  gentes  que  todo  lo  habian  gastado,  el  dicho  Pedra- 
rias de  Avila  les  dijo,  que  ya  el  no  queria  mas  hacer  compania  con 
ellos  en  los  gastos  de  la  armada,  que  si  ellos  querian  volver  &  su  costa, 
que  lo  hiciesen ;  y  ansi  como  gente  que  habia  perdido  todo  lo  que 
tenia  y  tanto  habia  trabajado,  acordaron  de  tornar  &  proseguir  su 
Jornada  y  dar  fin  d  las  vidas  y  haciendas  que  les  quedaba,  6  descubrir 
aquella  tierra,  y  ciertamente  ellos  tubieron  grande  constancia  y 
animo."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 

3  This  policy  is  noticed  by  the  sagacious  Martyr :  "  De  mutandis 
namque  plaerisque  gubernatoribus,  ne  longa  nimis  imperii  assuetu- 
dine  insolescant,  cogitatur,  qui  prascipue  non  fuerint  prouinciarum 
domitores.de  hisce  ducibus  namque  alia  ratio  ponderatur."  (De 
Orbe  Novo  (Parisiis,  1587).  p.  498.)  One  cannot  but  regret  that  the 
philosopher  who  took  so  keen  an  interest  in  the  successive  revela- 
tions of  the  different  portions  of  the  New  World  should  have  died 
before  the  empire  of  the  Incas  was  disclosed  to  Europeans.  He 
lived  to  learn  and  to  record  the  wonders  of 

"  Rich  Mexico,  the  seat  of  Montezuma  ; 
Not  Cuzco  in  Peru,  the  richer  seat  of  Atabalipa." 
20* 


234  DISCOVERY   OF  PERU. 

and  especially  of  the  natives,  Avhose  religious  conver- 
sion was  urged  as  a  capital  object,  and  whose  personal 
freedom  was  unequivocally  asserted,  as  loyal  vassals  of 
the  crown.  It  is  but  justice  to  the  Spanish  government 
to  admit  that  its  provisions  were  generally  guided  by  a 
humane  and  considerate  policy,  which  was  as  regularly 
frustrated  by  the  cupidity  of  the  colonist  and  the  ca- 
pricious cruelty  of  the  conqueror.  The  few  remaining 
years  of  Pedrarias  were  spent  in  petty  squabbles,  both 
of  a  personal  and  official  nature ;  for  he  was  still  con- 
tinued in  office,  though  in  one  of  less  consideration 
than  that  which  he  had  hitherto  filled.  He  survived 
but  a  few  years,  leaving  behind  him  a  reputation  not 
to  be  envied,  of  one  who  united  a  pusillanimous  spirit 
with  uncontrollable  passions,  but  who  displayed,  not- 
withstanding, a  certain  energy  of  character,  or,  to  speak 
more  correctly,  an  impetuosity  of  purpose,  which  might 
have  led  to  good  results  had  it  taken  a  right  direction. 
Unfortunately,  his  lack  of  discretion  was  such  that  the 
direction  he  took  was  rarely  of  service  to  his  country 
or  to  himself. 

Having  settled  their  difficulties  with  the  governor, 
and  obtained  his  sanction  to  their  enterprise,  the  con- 
federates lost  no  time  in  making  the  requisite  prepara- 
tions for  it.  Their  first  step  was  to  execute  the  memo- 
rable contract  which  served  as  the  basis  of  their  future 
arrangements*  and,  as  Pizarro's  name  appears  in  this, 
it  seems  probable  that  the  chief  had  crossed  over  to 
Panama  so  soon  as  the  favorable  disposition  of  Pedrarias 
had  been  secured.4  The  instrument,  after  invoking 

«  In  opposition  to  most  authorities, — but  not  to  the  judicious  Quin- 
tana, — I  have  conformed  to  Montesinos,  in  placing  the  execution  of 


THE    FAMOUS  CONTRACT.  23^ 

in  the  most  solemn  manner  the  names  of  the  Holy 
Trinity  and  Our  Lady  the  Blessed  Virgin,  sets  forth 
that  whereas  the  parties  have  full  authority  to  discover 
and  subdue  the  countries  and  provinces  lying  south 
of  the  Gulf,  belonging  to  the  empire  of  Peru,  and  as 
Fernando  de  Luque  had  advanced  the  funds  for  the 
enterprise  in  bars  of  gold  of  the  value  of  twenty  thou- 
sand pesos,  they  mutually  bind  themselves  to  divide 
equally  among  them  the  whole  of  the  conquered  ter- 
ritory. This  stipulation  is  reiterated  over  and  over 
again,  particularly  with  reference  to  Luque,  who,  it  is 
declared,  is  to  be  entitled  to  one-third  of  all  lands. 
repartimientos,  treasures  of  every  kind,  gold,  silver, 
and  precious  stones, — to  one-third  even  of  all  vassals, 
rents,  and  emoluments  arising  from  such  grants  as  may 
be  conferred  by  the  crown  on  either  of  his  military 
associates,  to  be  held  for  his  own  use,  or  for  that  of  his 
heirs,  assigns,  or  legal  representative. 

The  two  captains  solemnly  engage  to  devote  them- 
selves exclusively  to  the  present  undertaking  until  it  is 
accomplished  ;  and  in  case  of  failure  in  their  part  of  the 
covenant  they  pledge  themselves  to  reimburse  Luque 
for  his  advances,  for  which  all  the  property  they  possess 
shall  be  held  responsible,  and  this  declaration  is  to  be  a 
sufficient  warrant  for  the  execution  of  judgment  against 
them,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  it  had  proceeded  from 
the  decree  of  a  court  of  justice. 

The  commanders,  Pizarro  and  Almagro,  made  oath, 

the  contract  at  the  commencement  of  the  second,  instead  of  the  first 
expedition.  This  arrangement  coincides  with  the  date  of  the  instru- 
ment itself,  which,  moreover,  is  reported  in  extenso  by  no  ancient 
writer  whom  I  have  consulted  except  Montesinos. 


236  DISCOVERY   OF  PERU. 

in  the  name  of  God  and  the  Holy  Evangelists,  sacredly 
to  keep  this  covenant,  swearing  it  on  the  missal,  on 
which  they  traced  with  their  own  hands  the  sacred 
emblem  of  the  cross.  To  give  still  greater  efficacy  to 
the  compact,  Father  Luque  administered  the  sacrament 
to  the  parties,  dividing  the  consecrated  wafer  into  three 
portions,  of  which  each  one  of  them  partook  ;  while  the 
by-standers,  says  an  historian,  were  affected  to  tears  by 
this  spectacle  of  the  solemn  ceremonial  with  which 
these  men  voluntarily  devoted  themselves  to  a  sacrifice 
that  seemed  little  short  of  insanity.5 

The  instrument,  which  was  dated  March  loth,  1526, 
was  subscribed  by  Luque,  and  attested  by  three  respect- 
able citizens  of  Panama,  one  of  whom  signed  on  be- 
half of  Pizarro,  and  the  other  for  Almagro ;  since 
neither  of  these  parties,  according  to  the  avowal  of  the 
instrument,  was  able  to  subscribe  his  own  name.6 

Such  was  the  singular  compact  by  which  three  ob- 
scure individuals  coolly  carved  out  and  partitioned 
among  themselves  an  empire  of  whose  extent,  power, 
and  resources,  of  whose  situation,  of  whose  existence 
even,  they  had  no  sure  or  precise  knowledge.  The 
positive  and  unhesitating  manner  in  which  they  speak 
of  the  grandeur  of  this  empire,  of  its  stores  of  wealth, 
so  conformable  to  the  event,  but  of  which  they  could 
have  really  known  so  little,  forms  a  striking  contrast 
with  the  general  skepticism  and  indifference  manifested 

s  This  singular  instrument  is  given  at  length  by  Montesinos.  (An- 
nales,  MS.,  ano  1526.)  It  may  be  found  in  the  original  in  Appendix 
No.  6. 

6  For  some  investigation  of  the  fact,  which  has  been  disputed  by 
moie  than  one,  of  Pizarro's  ignorance  of  the  art  of  writing,  see 
book  4,  chap.  5,  of  this  History. 


THE    FAMOUS  CONTRACT.  237 

by  nearly  every  other  person,  high  and  low,  in  the  com- 
munity of  Panama.7 

The  religious  tone  of  the  instrument  is  not  the  least 
remarkable  feature  in  it,  especially  when  we  contrast 
this  with  the  relentless  policy  pursued  by  the  very  men 
who  were  parties  to  it  in  their  conquest  of  the  country. 
"In  the  name  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,"  says  the  illus- 
trious historian  of  America,  "they  ratified  a  contract 
of  which  plunder  and  bloodshed  were  the  objects. ' ' 8 
The  reflection  seems  reasonable.  Yet,  in  criticising 
what  is  done,  as  well  as  what  is  written,  we  must  take 
into  account  the  spirit  of  the  times.9  The  invocation 
of  Heaven  was  natural,  where  the  object  of  the  under- 
taking was  in  part  a  religious  one.  Religion  entered 
more  or  less  into  the  theory,  at  least,  of  the  Spanish 
conquests  in  the  New  World.  That  motives  of  a  baser 
sort  mingled  largely  with  these  higher  ones,  and  in 
different  proportions  according  to  the  character  of  the 
individual,  no  one  will  deny.  And  few  are  they  that 
have  proposed  to  themselves  a  long  career  of  action 
without  the  intermixture  of  some  vulgar  personal  mo- 
tive,— fame,  honors,  or  emolument.  Yet  that  religion 
furnishes  a  key  to  the  American  crusades,  however 

7  The  epithet  of  loco,  or  "  madman,"  was  punningly  bestowed  on 
Father  Luque,  for  his  spirited  exertions  in  behalf  of  the  enterprise ; 
Padre  Luque  b  loco,  says  Oviedo  of  him,  as  if  it  were  synonymous. 
Historia  de  las  Indias  Islas  e  Tierra  Firme  del  Mar  Oceano,  MS., 
Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  i. 

8  Robertson,  America,  vol.  iii.  p.  5. 

9  "  A  perfect  judge  will  read  each  work  of  wit 
With  the  same  spirit  that  its  author  writ," 

says  the  great  bard  of  Reason.  A  fair  criticism  will  apply  the  same 
rule  to  action  as  to  writing,  and,  in  the  moral  estimate  of  conduct,  will 
take  largely  into  account  the  spirit  of  the  age  which  prompted  it. 


238  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

rudely  they  may  have  been  conducted,  is  evident  from 
the  history  of  their  origin ;  from  the  sanction  openly 
given  to  them  by  the  Head  of  the  Church ;  from  the 
throng  of  self-devoted  missionaries  who  followed  in 
the  track  of  the  conquerors  to  garner  up  the  rich  har- 
vest of  souls ;  from  the  reiterated  instructions  of  the 
crown,  the  great  object  of  which  was  the  conversion 
of  the  natives ;  from  those  superstitious  acts  of  the 
iron-hearted  soldiery  themselves,  which,  however  they 
may  be  set  down  to  fanaticism,  were  clearly  too  much 
in  earnest  to  leave  any  ground  for  the  charge  of  hypoc- 
risy. It  was  indeed  a  fiery  cross  that  was  borne  over 
the  devoted  land,  scathing  and  consuming  it  in  its 
terrible  progress ;  but  it  was  still  the  cross,  the  sign  of 
man's  salvation,  the  only  sign  by  which  generations 
and  generations  yet  unborn  were  to  be  rescued  from 
eternal  perdition. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  which  has  hitherto  escaped 
the  notice  of  the  historian,  that  Luque  was  not  the  real 
party  to  this  contract.  He  represented  another,  who 
placed  in  his  hands  the  funds  required  for  the  under- 
taking. This  appears  from  an  instrument  signed  by 
Luque  himself  and  certified  before  the  same  notary 
that  prepared  the  original  contract.  The  instrument 
declares  that  the  whole  sum  of  twenty  thousand  pesos 
advanced  for  the  expedition  was  furnished  by  the  Li- 
centiate Gaspar  de  Espinosa,  then  at  Panama ;  that  the 
vicar  acted  only  as  his  agent  and  by  his  authority ;  and 
that,  in  consequence,  the  said  Espinosa  and  no  other 
was  entitled  to  a  third  of  all  the  profits  and  acqui- 
sitions resulting  from  the  conquest  of  Peru.  This 
instrument,  attested  by  three  persons,  one  of  them  the 


Till-.    1-AMOUS  CONTRACT.  3-59 

same  who  had  witnessed  the  original  contract,  was 
dated  on  the  6th  of  August,  i53i.10  The  Licentiate 
Espinosa  was  a  respectable  functionary,  who  had  filled 
the  office  of  principal  alcalde  in  Darien,  and  since 
taken  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  conquest  and  settle- 
ment of  Tierra  Firme.  He  enjoyed  much  considera- 
tion for  his  personal  character  and  station ;  and  it  is 
remarkable  that  so  little  should  be  known  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  covenant  so  solemnly  made  was  exe- 
cuted in  reference  to  him.  As  in  the  case  of  Columbus, 
it  is  probable  that  the  unexpected  magnitude  of  the 
results  was  such  as  to  prevent  a  faithful  Adherence  to 
the  original  stipulation ;  and  yet,  from  the  same  con- 
sideration, one  can  hardly  doubt  that  the  twenty  thou- 
sand pesos  of  the  bold  speculator  must  have  brought 
him  a  magnificent  return.  Nor  did  the  worthy  vicar 
of  Panama,  as  the  history  will  show  hereafter,  go  with- 
out his  reward. 

Having  completed  these  preliminary  arrangements, 
the  three  associates  lost  no  time  in  making  preparations 
for  the  voyage.  Two  vessels  were  purchased,  larger  and 
every  way  better  than  those  employed  on  the  former  oc- 
casion. Stores  were  laid  in,  as  experience  dictated,  on 
a  larger  scale  than  before,  and  proclamation  was  made 
of  "an  expedition  to  Peru."  But  the  call  was  not 
readily  answered  by  the  skeptical  citizens  of  Panama. 

10  The  instrument  making  this  extraordinary  disclosure  is  cited  at 
length  in  a  manuscript  entitled  Noticia  general  del  Peru,  Tierra  Firme 
y  Chili,  by  Francisco  Lopez  de  Caravan tes,  a  fiscal  officer  in  these 
colonies.  The  MS.,  formerly  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  great 
college  of  Cuenca  at  Salamanca,  is  now  to  be  found  in  her  Majesty's 
library  at  Madrid.  The  passage  is  extracted  by  Quintana,  Espanoles 
celebres,  torn.  ii.  Apend.  No.  2,  nota. 


34° 


DISCOVER*    OF   PERU. 


Of  nearly  two  hundred  men  who  had  embarked  on 
the  former  cruise,  not  more  than  three-fourths  now 
remained."  This  dismal  mortality,  and  the  emaciated, 
poverty-stricken  aspect  of  the  survivors,  spoke  more 
eloquently  than  the  braggart  promises  and  magnificent 
prospects  held  out  by  the  adventurers.  Still,  there 
were  men  in  the  community  of  such  desperate  circum- 
stances that  any  change  seemed  like  a  chance  of  bet- 
tering their  condition.  Most  of  the  former  company 
also,  strange  to  say,  felt  more  pleased  to  follow  up  the 
adventure  to  the  end  than  to  abandon  it  as  they  saw 
the  light  of  a  better  day  dawning  upon  them.  From 
these  sources  the  two  captains  succeeded  in  mustering 
about  one  hundred  and  sixty  men,  making  altogether 
a  very  inadequate  force  for  the  conquest  of  an  empire. 
A  few  horses  were  also  purchased,  and  a  better  supply 
of  ammunition  and  military  stores  than  before,  though 
still  on  a  very  limited  scale.  Considering  their  funds, 
the  only  way  of  accounting  for  this  must  be  by  the 
difficulty  of  obtaining  supplies  at  Panama,  which,  re- 
cently founded,  and  on  the  remote  coast  of  the  Pacific, 
could  be  approached  only  by  crossing  the  rugged  bar- 
rier of  mountains,  which  made  the  transportation  of 
bulky  articles  extremely  difficult.  Even  such  scanty 
stock  of  materials  as  it  possessed  was  probably  laid 
under  heavy  contribution,  at  the  present  juncture,  by 
the  governor's  preparations  for  his  own  expedition  to 
the  north. 

11  "  Con  ciento  i  diez  Hombres  salio  de  Panama,  i  fue  donde  estaba 
el  Capitan  Picarro  con  otros  cinquenta  de  los  primeros  ciento  i  diez, 
que  con  el  salieron,  i  de  los  setenta,  que  el  Capitan  Almagro  Ilev6, 
quando  le  fue  abuscar,  que  los  ciento  i  treinta  ia  eran  muertos."  Xerez, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  180. 


SECOND    EXPEDITION.  241 

Thus  indifferently  provided,  the  two  captains,  each 
in  his  own  vessel,  again  took  their  departure  from 
Panama,  under  the  direction  of  Bartholomew  Ruiz,  a 
sagacious  and  resolute  pilot,  well  experienced  in  the 
navigation  of  the  Southern  Ocean.  He  was  a  native 
of  Moguer,  in  Andalusia,  that  little  nursery  of  nautical 
enterprise,  which  furnished  so  many  seamen  for  the  first 
voyages  of  Columbus.  Without  touching  at  the  inter- 
vening points  of  the  coast,  which  offered  no  attraction 
to  the  voyagers,  they  stood  farther  out  to  sea,  steering 
direct  for  the  Rio  de  San  Juan,  the  utmost  limit  reached 
by  Almagro.  The  season  was  better  selected  than  on 
the  former  occasion,  and  they  were  borne  along  by 
favorable  breezes  to  the  place  of  their  destination, 
which  they  reached  without  accident  in  a  few  days. 
Entering  the  mouth  of  the  river,  they  saw  the  banks 
well  lined  with  Indian  habitations ;  and  Pizarro,  dis- 
embarking at  the  head  of  a  party  of  soldiers,  succeeded 
in  surprising  a  small  village  and  carrying  off  a  consid- 
erable booty  of  gold  ornaments  found  in  the  dwellings, 
together  with  a  few  of  the  natives." 

Flushed  with  their  success,  the  two  chiefs  were  con- 
fident that  the  sight  of  the  rich  spoil  so  speedily 
obtained  could  not  fail  to  draw  adventurers  to  their 
standard  in  Panama ;  and,  as  they  felt  more  than  ever 
the  necessity  of  a  stronger  force  to  cope  with  the 
thickening  population  of  the  country  which  they  were 
now  to  penetrate,  it  was  decided  that  Almagro  should 
return  with  the  treasure  and  beat  up  for  reinforcements, 

"  Xerez,   Conq.  del   Peru.   ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  pp.  180,  181. — 
Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. — Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap. 
i. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  13. 
Peru. — VOL.  I. — L  21 


242  DISCOVERY    OF  PERU. 

while  the  pilot  Ruiz,  in  the  other  vessel,  should  recon- 
noitre the  country  towards 'the  south,  and  obtain  such 
information  as  might  determine  their  future  movements. 
Pizarro,  with  the  rest  of  the  force,  would  remain  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  river,  as  he  was  assured  by  the 
Indian  prisoners  that  not  far  off  in  the  interior  was  an 
open  reach  of  country,  where  he  and  his  men  could 
find  comfortable  quarters.  This  arrangement  was  in- 
stantly put  in  execution.  We  will  first  accompany  the 
intrepid  pilot  in  his  cruise  towards  the  south. 

Coasting  along  the  great  continent,  with  his  canvas 
still  spread  to  favorable  winds,  the  first  place  at  which 
Ruiz  cast  anchor  was  off  the  little  island  of  Gallo, 
about  two  degrees  north.  The  inhabitants,  who  were 
not  numerous,  were  prepared  to  give  him  a  hostile  re- 
ception ;  for  tidings  of  the  invaders  had  preceded  them 
along  the  country,  and  even  reached  this  insulated  spot. 
As  the  object  of  Ruiz  was  to  explore,  not  to  conquer, 
he  did  not  care  to  entangle  himself  in  hostilities  with 
the  natives:  so,  changing  his  purpose  of  landing,  he 
weighed  anchor,  and  ran  down  the  coast  as  far  as  what 
is  now  called  the  Bay  of  St.  Matthew.  The  country, 
which,  as  he  advanced,  continued  to  exhibit  evidence 
of  a  better  culture  as  well  as  of  a  more  dense  popula- 
tion than  the  parts  hitherto  seen,  was  crowded,  along 
the  shores,  with  spectators,  who  gave  no  signs  of  fear 
or  hostility.  They  stood  gazing  on  the  vessel  of  the 
white  men  as  it  glided  smoothly  into  the  crystal  waters 
of  the  bay,  fancying  it,  says  an  old  writer,  some  mys- 
terious being  descended  from  the  skies. 

Without  staying  long  enough  on  this  friendly  coast 
to  undeceive  the  simple  people,  Ruiz,  standing  off 


RUIZ    EXPLORES    THE   COAST. 


243 


shore,  struck  out  into  the  deep  sea;  but  he  had  not 
sailed  far  in  that  direction  when  he  was  surprised  by 
the  sight  of  a  vessel,  seeming  in  the  distance  like  a 
caravel  of  considerable  size,  traversed  by  a  large  sail 
that  carried  it  sluggishly  over  the  waters.  The  old 
navigator  was  not  a  little  perplexed  by  this  phenome- 
non, as  he  was  confident  no  European  bark  could  have 
been  before  him  in  these  latitudes,  and  no  Indian  nation 
yet  discovered,  not  even  the  civilized  Mexican,  was 
acquainted  with  the  use  of  sails  in  navigation.  As  he 
drew  near,  he  found  it  was  a  large  vessel,  or  rather  raft, 
called  balsa  by  the  natives,  consisting  of  a  number  of 
huge  timbers  of  a  light,  porous  wood,  tightly  lashed 
together,  with  a  frail  flooring  of  reeds  raised  on  them 
by  way  of  deck.  Two  masts  or  sturdy  poles,  erected 
in  the  middle  of  the  vessel,  sustained  a  large  square- 
sail  of  cotton,  while  a  rude  kind  of  rudder  and  a  mov- 
able keel,  made  of  plank  inserted  between  the  logs, 
enabled  the  mariner  to  give  a  direction  to  the  floating 
fabric,  which  held  on  its  course  without  the  aid  of  oar 
or  paddle.'3  The  simple  architecture  of  this  craft  was 
sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  the  natives,  and  indeed 
has  continued  to  answer  them  to  the  present  day ;  for 
the  balsa,  surmounted  by  small  thatched  huts  or  cabins, 
still  supplies  the  most  commodious  means  for  the  trans- 
portation of  passengers  and  luggage  on  the  streams  and 
along  the  shores  of  this  part  of  the  South  American 
continent. 

'3  "Traia  sus  manteles  y  antenas  de  muy  fina  madera  y  velas  de  algo- 
don  del  mismo  talle  de  manera  que  los  nuestros  navios."  Relacion 
de  los  primeros  Descubrimientos  de  F.  Pizarro  y  Diego  de  Almagro, 
sacadadel  Codice  No.  120  de  la  Biblioteca  Imperial  de  Vienna,  MS. 


244  DISCOVERY   OF  PERU. 

On  coming  alongside,  Ruiz  found  several  Indians, 
both  men  and  women,  on  board,  some  with  rich  orna- 
ments on  their  persons,  besides  several  articles  wrought 
with  considerable  skill  in  gold  and  silver,  which  they 
were  carrying  for  purposes  of  traffic  to  the  different 
places  along  the  coast.  But  what  most  attracted  his 
attention  was  the  woollen  cloth  of  which  some  of  their 
dresses  were  made.  It  was  of  a  fine  texture,  delicately 
embroidered  with  figures  of  birds  and  flowers,  and 
dyed  in  brilliant  colors.  He  also  observed  in  the  boat 
a  pair  of  balances  made  to  weigh  the  precious  metals.14 
His  astonishment  at  these  proofs  of  ingenuity  and 
civilization,  so  much  higher  than  any  thing  he  had  ever 
seen  in  the  country,  was  heightened  by  the  intelligence 
which  he  collected  from  some  of  these  Indians.  Two 
of  them  had  come  from  Tumbez,  a  Peruvian  port,  some 
degrees  to  the  south  ;  and  they  gave  him  to  understand 
that  in  their  neighborhood  the  fields  were  covered  with 
large  flocks  of  the  animals  from  which  the  wool  was 
obtained,  and  that  gold  and  silver  were  almost  as  com- 
,mon  as  wool  in  the  palaces  of  their  monarch.  The 
Spaniards  listened  greedily  to  reports  which  harmo- 

'*  In  a  short  notice  of  this  expedition,  written  apparently  at  the  time 
of  it,  or  soon  after,  a  minute  specification  is  given  of  the  several  articles 
found  in  the  balsa  ;  among  them  are  mentioned  vases  and  mirrors  of 
burnished  silver,  and  curious  fabrics  both  cotton  and  woollen  :  "  Espe- 
jos  guarnecidos  de  la  dicha  plata,  y  tasas  y  otras  vasijas  para  beber, 
trahian  muchas  mantas  de  lana  y  de  algodon,  y  camisas  y  aljubas  y 
alca9eres  y  alaremes,  y  otras  muchas  ropas,  todo  lo  mas  de  ello  muy 
labrado  d«  labores  muy  ricas  de  colores  de  grana  y  carmisi  y  azul  y 
amarillo,  y  de  todas  otras  colores  de  diversas  maneras  de  labores  y 
figuras  de  aves  y  animales,  y  Pescados,  y  arbolesas  y  trahian  unos  pesos 
chiquitos  de  pesar  oro  como  hechura  de  Romana,  y  otras  muchas 
cosas."  Relacton  sacada  de  la  Biblioteca  Imperial  de  Vienna,  MS. 


RUIZ    EXPLORES    THE  COAST. 


245 


nized  so  well  with  their  fond  desires.  Though  half 
distrusting  the  exaggeration,  Ruiz  resolved  to  detain 
some  of  the  Indians,  including  the  natives  of  Turabez, 
that  they  might  repeat  the  wondrous  tale  to  his  com- 
mander, and  at  the  same  time,  by  learning  the  Cas- 
tilian,  might  hereafter  serve  as  interpreters  with  their 
countrymen.  The  rest  of  the  party  he  suffered  to  pro- 
ceed without  further  interruption  on  their  voyage, 
Then,  holding  on  his  course,  the  prudent  pilot,  with- 
out touching  at  any  other  point  of  the  coast,  advanced 
as  far  as  the  Punta  de  Pasado,  about  half  a  degree 
south,  having  the  glory  of  being  the  first  European 
who,  sailing  in  this  direction  on  the  Pacific,  had  crossed 
the  equinoctial  line.  This  was  the  limit  of  his  dis- 
coveries ;  on  reaching  which  he  tacked  about,  and, 
standing  away  to  the  north,  succeeded,  after  an  ab- 
sence of  several  weeks,  in  regaining  the  spot  where  he 
had  left  Pizarro  and  his  comrades.15 

It  was  high  time  ;  for  the  spirits  of  that  little  band 
had  been  sorely  tried  by  the  perils  they  had  encoun- 
tered. On  the  departure  of  his  vessels,  Pizarro  marched 
into  the  interior,  in  the  hope  of  finding  the  pleasant 
champaign  country  which  had  been  promised  him  by 
the  natives.  But  at  every  step  the  forests  seemed  to 
grow  denser  and  darker,  and  the  trees  towered  to  a 

»s  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  181. — Relacion 
sacada  de  la  Biblioteca  Imperial  de  Vienna,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist, 
general,  dec.  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  13. — One  of  the  authorities  speaks  of  his 
having  been  sixty  days  on  this  cruise.  I  regret  not  to  be  able  to  give 
precise  dates  of  the  events  in  these  early  expeditions.  But  chronology 
is  a  thing  beneath  the  notice  of  these  ancient  chroniclers,  who  seem 
to  think  that  the  date  of  events  so  fresh  in  their  own  memory  must 
be  so  in  that  of  every  one  else. 

21* 


246  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

height  such  as  he  had  never  seen,  even  in  these  fruitful 
regions,  where  Nature  works  on  so  gigantic  a  scale.16 
Hill  continued  to  rise  above  hill,  as  he  advanced, 
rolling  onward,  as  it  were,  by  successive  waves  to  join 
that  colossal  barrier  of  the  Andes,  whose  frosty  sides, 
far  away  above  the  clouds,  spread  out  like  a  curtain  of 
burnished  silver,  that  seemed  to  connect  the  heavens 
with  the  earth. 

On  crossing  these  woody  eminences,  the  forlorn  ad- 
venturers would  plunge  into  ravines  of  frightful  depth, 
where  the  exhalations  of  a  humid  soil  streamed  up 
amidst  the  incense  of  sweet-scented  flowers,  which 
shone  through  the  deep  gloom  in  every  conceivable 
variety  of  color.  Birds,  especially  of  the  parrot  tribe, 
mocked  this  fantastic  variety  of  nature  with  tints  as 
brilliant  as  those  of  the  vegetable  world.  Monkeys 
chattered  in  crowds  above  their  heads,  and  made 
grimaces  like  the  fiendish  spirits  of  these  solitudes ; 
while  hideous  reptiles,  engendered  in  the  slimy  depths 
of  the  pools,  gathered  round  the  footsteps  of  the  wan- 
derers. Here  was  seen  the  gigantic  boa,  coiling  his 
unwieldy  folds  about  the  trees,  so  as  hardly  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  their  trunks,  till  he  was  ready  to  dart 
upon  his  prey ;  and  alligators  lay  basking  on  the  bor- 
ders of  the  streams,  or,  gliding  under  the  waters,  seized 
their  incautious  victim  before  he  was  aware  of  their 
approach.17  Many  of  the  Spaniards  perished  miserably 
in  this  way,  and  others  were  waylaid  by  the  natives, 
who  kept  a  jealous  eye  on  their  movements  and  availed 

l6"Todo  era  montanas,  con  arboles  hasta  el  cielo !"     Herrera, 
Hist,  general,  ubi  supra. 
'7  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


ARRIVAL    OF  NEW  RECRUITS.  247 

themselves  of  every  opportunity  to  take  them  at  ad- 
vantage. Fourteen  of  Pizarro's  men  were  cut  off  at 
once  in  a  canoe  which  had  stranded  on  the  bank  of  a 
stream.18 

Famine  came  in  addition  to  other  troubles,  and  it 
was  with  difficulty  that  they  found  the  means  of  sus- 
taining life  on  the  scanty  fare  of  the  forest, — occasion- 
ally the  potato,  as  it  grew  without  cultivation,  or  the 
wild  cocoanut,  or,  on  the  shore,  the  salt  and  bitter 
fruit  of  the  mangrove  ;  though  the  shore  was  less  toler- 
able than  the  forest,  from  the  swarms  of  mosquitos 
which  compelled  the  wretched  adventurers  to  bury  their 
bodies  up  to  their  very  faces  in  the  sand.  In  this  ex- 
tremity of  suffering,  they  thought  only  of  return ;  and 
all  schemes  of  avarice  and  ambition — except  with 
Pizarro  and  a  few  dauntless  spirits — were  exchanged 
for  the  one  craving  desire  to  return  to  Panama. 

It  was  at  this  crisis  that  the  pilot  Ruiz  returned 
with  the  report  of  his  brilliant  discoveries ;  and,  not 
long  after,  Almagro  sailed  into  port  with  his  vessel 
laden  with  provisions  and  a  considerable  reinforce- 
ment of  volunteers.  The  voyage  of  that  commander 
had  been  prosperous.  When  he  arrived  at  Panama,  he 
found  the  government  in  the  hands  of  Don  Pedro  de 
los  Rios ;  and  he  came  to  anchor  in  the  harbor,  un- 
willing to  trust  himself  on  shore  till  he  had  obtained 
from  Father  Luque  some  account  of  the  dispositions 
of  the  executive.  These  were  sufficiently  favorable ; 
for  the  new  governor  had  particular  instructions  fully 
to  carry  out  the  arrangements  made  by  his  predecessor 

«8  Herrera,  loc.  cit.— Gomara,  Hist,  delas  Ind.,  cap.  108. — Naharro, 
Relacion  sumaria,  MS. 


248  DISCOVERY    OF  PERU. 

with  the  associates.  On  learning  Almagro's  arrival,  he 
came  down  to  the  port  to  welcome  him,  professing  his 
willingness  to  afford  every  facility  for  the  execution  of 
his  designs.  Fortunately,  just  before  this  period  a 
small  body  of  military  adventurers  had  come  to  Panama 
from  the  mother-country,  burning  with  desire  to  make 
their  fortunes  in  the  New  World.  They  caught  much 
more  eagerly  than  the  old  and  wary  colonists  at  the 
golden  bait  held  out  to  them ;  and  with  their  addition, 
and  that  of  a  few  supernumerary  stragglers  who  hung 
about  the  town,  Almagro  found  himself  at  the  head  of 
a  reinforcement  of  at  least  eighty  men,  with  which, 
having  laid  in  a  fresh  supply  of  stores,  he  again  set  sail 
for  the  Rio  de  San  Juan. 

The  arrival  of  the  new  recruits  all  eager  to  follow 
up  the  expedition,  the  comfortable  change  in  their 
circumstances  produced  by  an  ample  supply  of  pro- 
visions, and  the  glowing  pictures  of  the  wealth  that 
awaited  them  in  the  south,  all  had  their  effect  on  the 
dejected  spirits  of  Pizarro's  followers.  Their  late  toils 
and  privations  were  speedily  forgotten,  and,  with  the 
buoyant  and  variable  feelings  incident  to  a  freebooter's 
life,  they  now  called  as  eagerly  on  their  commander  to 
go  forward  in  the  voyage  as  they  had  before  called  on 
him  to  abandon  it.  Availing  themselves  of  the  re 
newed  spirit  of  enterprise,  the  captains  embarked  on 
board  their  vessels,  and,  under  the  guidance  of  the 
veteran  pilot,  steered  in  the  same  track  he  had  lately 
pursued. 

But  the  favorable  season  for  a  southern  course,  which 
in  these  latitudes  lasts  but  a  few  months  in  the  year, 
had  been  suffered  to  escape.  The  breezes  blew  steadily 


FRESH  DISCOVERIES   AND    DISASTERS.      249 

towards  the  north,  and  a  strong  current,  not  far  from 
shore,  set  in  the  same  direction.  The  winds  frequently 
rose  into  tempests,  and  the  unfortunate  voyagers  were 
tossed  about,  for  many  days,  in  the  boiling  surges, 
amidst  the  most  awful  storms  of  thunder  and  lightning, 
until  at  length  they  found  a  secure  haven  in  the  island 
of  Gallo,  already  visited  by  Ruiz.  As  they  were  now 
too  strong  in  numbers  to  apprehend  an  assault,  the 
crews  landed,  and,  experiencing  no  molestation  from 
the  natives,  they  continued  on  the  island  for  a  fort- 
night, refitting  their  damaged  vessels,  and  recruiting 
themselves  after  the  fatigues  of  the  ocean.  Then,  re 
suming  their  voyage,  the  captains  stood  towards  the 
south  until  they  reached  the  bay  of  St.  Matthew.  As 
they  advanced  along  the  coast,  they  were  struck,  as 
Ruiz  had  been  before,  with  the  evidences  of  a  higher 
civilization  constantly  exhibited  in  the  general  aspect 
of  the  country  and  its  inhabitants.  The  hand  of  cul- 
tivation was  visible  in  every  quarter.  The  natural 
appearance  of  the  coast,  too,  had  something  in  it  more 
inviting ;  for  instead  of  the  eternal  labyrinth  of  man- 
grove-trees, with  their  complicated  roots  snarled  into 
formidable  coils  under  the  water,  as  if  to  waylay  and 
entangle  the  voyager,  the  low  margin  of  the  sea  was 
covered  with  a  stately  growth  of  ebony,  and  with  a 
species  of  mahogany,  and  other  hard  woods  that  take 
the  most  brilliant  and  variegated  polish.  The  sandal- 
wood,  and  many  balsamic  trees  of  unknown  names, 
scattered  their  sweet  odors  far  and  wide,  not  in  an 
atmosphere  tainted  with  vegetable  corruption,  but  on 
the  pure  breezes  of  the  ocean,  bearing  health  as  well 
as  fragrance  on  their  wings.  Broad  patches  of  culti- 


250 


DISCOVERY   OF   PERU. 


vated  land  intervened,  disclosing  hill-sides  covered 
with  the  yellow  maize  and  the  potato,  or  checkered,  in 
the  lower  levels,  with  blooming  plantations  of  cacao.'9 
The  villages  became  more  numerous ;  and,  as  the 
vessels  rode  at  anchor  off  the  port  of  Tacamez,  the 
Spaniards  saw  before  them  a  town  of  two  thousand 
houses  or  more,  laid  out  into  streets,  with  a  numerous 
population  clustering  around  it  in  the  suburbs."  The 
men  and  women  displayed  many  ornaments  of  gold 
and  precious  stones  about  their  persons,  which  may 
seem  strange,  considering  that  the  Peruvian  Incas 
claimed  a  monopoly  of  jewels  for  themselves  and  the 
nobles  on  whom  they  condescended  to  bestow  them. 
But,  although  the  Spaniards  had  now  reached  the  outer 
limits  of  the  Peruvian  empire,  it  was  not  Peru,  but 
Quito,  and  that  portion  of  it  but  recently  brought 
under  the  sceptre  of  the  Incas,  where  the  ancient 
usages  of  the  people  could  hardly  have  been  effaced 
under  the  oppressive  system  of  the  American  despots. 
The  adjacent  country  was,  moreover,  particularly  rich 
in  gold,  which,  collected  from  the  washings  of  the 
streams,  still  forms  one  of  the  staple  products  of  Barba- 
coas.  Here,  too,  was  the  fair  River  of  Emeralds,  so 
called  from  the  quarries  of  the  beautiful  gem  on  its 

*9  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  181. — Relacion 
sacada  de  la  Biblioteca  Imperial  de  Vienna,  MS. — Naharro,  Relacion 
sumaria,  MS. — Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1526. — Zarate,  Conq. 
del  Peru,  lib.  I,  cap.  i. — Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 

30  Pizarro's  secretary  speaks  of  one  of  the  towns  as  containing  3000 
houses  :  "  En  esta  Tierra  havia  muchos  Mantenimientos,  i  la  Gente 
tenia  mui  buena  orden  de  vivir,  los  Pueblos  con  sus  Calles,  i  Placas  : 
Pueblo  havia  que  tenia  mas  de  tres  mil  Casas,  i  otros  havia  menores.' ' 
Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  181. 


FRESH  DISCOVERIES    AND    DISASTERS.      251 

borders,  from  which  the  Indian  monarchs  enriched 
their  treasury/'1 

The  Spaniards  gazed  with  delight  on  these  undenia- 
ble evidences  of  wealth,  and  saw  in  the  careful  cultiva- 
tion of  the  soil  a  comfortable  assurance  that  they  had 
at  length  reached  the  land  which  had  so  long  been  seen 
in  brilliant,  though  distant,  perspective  before  them. 
But  here  again  they  were  doomed  to  be  disappointed  by 
the  warlike  spirit  of  the  people,  who,  conscious  of  their 
own  strength,  showed  no  disposition  to  quail  before 
the  invaders.  On  the  contrary,  several  of  their  canoes 
shot  out,  loaded  with  warriors,  who,  displaying  a  gold 
mask  as  their  ensign,  hovered  round  the  vessels  with 
looks  of  defiance,  and,  when  pursued,  easily  took  shelter 
under  the  lee  of  the  land." 

A  more  formidable  body  mustered  along  the  shore, 
to  the  number,  according  to  the  Spanish  accounts,  of 
at  least  ten  thousand  warriors,  eager,  apparently,  to 
come  to  close  action  with  the  invaders.  Nor  could 

81  Stevenson,  who  visited  this  part  of  the  coast  early  in  the  present 
century,  is  profuse  in  his  description  of  its  mineral  and  vegetable 
treasures.  The  emerald-mine  in  the  neighborhood  of  Las  Esme- 
raldas,  once  so  famous,  is  now  placed  under  the  ban  of  a  superstition 
more  befitting  the  times  of  the  Incas.  "  I  never  visited  it,"  says  the 
traveller,  "  owing  to  the  superstitious  dread  of  the  natives,  who  assured 
me  that  it  was  enchanted,. and  guarded  by  an  enormous  dragon,  which 
poured'forth  thunder  and  lightning  on  those  who  dared  to  ascend  the 
river."  Residence  in  South  America,  vol.  ii.  p.  406. 

M  "  Salieron  a  los  dichos  navios  quatorce  canoas  grandes  con  mu- 
chos  Indies  dos  armados  de  oro  y  plata,  y  trahian  en  la  una  canoa  6 
en  estandarte  y  encima  de  el  un  bolto  de  un  mucho  desio  de  oro,  y 
dieron  una  suelta  d  los  navios  por  avisarlos  en  manera  que  -no  los  pu- 
diese  enojar,  y  asi  dieron  vuelta  acia  d  su  pueblo,  y  los  navios  no  los 
pudieron  tomar  porque  se  metieron  en  los  baxos  junto  d  la  tierra." 
Relacion  sacada  de  la  Biblioteca  Imperial  de  Vienna,  MS. 


252  DISCOVERY    OF   PffKU. 

Pizarro,  who  had  landed  with  a  party  of  his  men  in  the 
hope  of  a  conference  with  the  natives,  wholly  prevent 
hostilities  ;  and  it  might  have  gone  hard  with  the  Span- 
iards, hotly  pressed  by  their  resolute  enemy  so  superior 
in  numbers,  but  for  a  ludicrous  accident  reported  by 
the  historians  as  happening  to  one  of  the  cavaliers. 
This  was  a  fall  from  his  horse,  which  so  astonished  the 
barbarians,  who  were  not  prepared  for  this  division  of 
what  seemed  one  and  the  same  being  into  two,  that, 
filled  with  consternation,  they  fell  back,  and  teft  a  way 
open  for  the  Christians  to  regain  their  vessels !  ^ 

A  council  of  war  was  now  called.  It  was  evident 
that  the  forces  of  the  Spaniards  were  unequal  to  a 
contest  with  so  numerous  and  well-appointed  a  body 
of  natives ;  and,  even  if  they  should  prevail  here,  they 
could  have  no  hope  of  stemming  the  torrent  which 
must  rise  against  them  in  their  progress, — for  the 
country  was  becoming  more  and  more  thickly  settled, 
and  towns  and  hamlets  started  into  view  at  every  new 
headland  which  they  doubled.  It  was  better,  in  the 
opinion  of  some, — the  faint-hearted, — to  abandon  the 
enterprise  at  once,  as  beyond  their  strength.  But  Al- 
magro  took  a  different  view  of  the  affair.  "To  go 

23  "  Al  tiempo  del  romper  los  unos  con  los  otros,  uno  de  aquellos 
de  caballo  cay  6  del  caballo  abajo  ;  y  como  los  Indies  vieron  dividirse 
aquel  animal  en  dos  partes,  teniendo  por  cierto  que  todo  era  una  cosa, 
fue  tanto  el  miedo  que  tubieron  que  volvieron  las  espaldas  dando  voces 
A  los  suyos,  diciendo,  que  se  habia  hecho  dos  haciendo  admiracion 
dello :  lo  cual  no  fud  sin  misterio  ;  porque  a  no  acaecer  esto  se  pre- 
sume, que  mataran  todos  los  cristianos."  (Relacion  del  primer  De- 
scub.,  MS.)  This  way  of  accounting  for  the  panic  of  the  barbarians 
is  certainly  quite  as  credible  as  the  explanation,  under  similar  circum- 
stances, afforded  by  the  apparition  of  the  militant  apostle  St.  James, 
so  often  noticed  bv  the  historians  of  these  wars. 


FRESH  DISCOVERIES    AND    DISASTERS. 


253      - 


home,"  he  said,  "with  nothing  done,  would  be  ruin, 
as  well  as  disgrace.  There  was  scarcely  one  but  had 
left  creditors  at  Panama,  who  looked  for  payment  to 
the  fruits  of  this  expedition.  To  go  home  now  would 
be  to  deliver  themselves  at  once  into  their  hands.  It 
would  be  to  go  to  prison.  Better  to  roam  a  freeman, 
though  in  the  wilderness,  than  to  lie  bound  with  fetters 
in  the  dungeons  of  Panama.24  The  only  course  for 
them,"  he  concluded,  "was  the  one  lately  pursued. 
Pizarro  might  find  some  more  commodious  place  where 
he  could  remain  with  part  of  the  force  while  he  him- 
self went  back  for  recruits  to  Panama.  The  story  they 
had  now  to  tell  of  the  riches  of  the  land,  as  they  had 
seen  them  with  their  own  eyes,  would  put  their  expe- 
dition in  a  very  different  light,  and  could  not  fail 
to  draw  to  their  banner  as  many  volunteers  as  they 
needed." 

But  this  recommendation,  however  judicious,  was 
not  altogether  to  the  taste  of  the  latter  commander, 
who  did  not  relish  the  part,  which  constantly  fell  to 
him,  of  remaining  behind  in  the  swamps  and  forests 
of  this  wild  country.  "It  is  all  very  well,"  he  said, 
to  Almagro,  "for  you,  who  pass  your  time  pleasantly 
enough,  careering  to  and  fro  in  your  vessel,  or  snugly 
sheltered  in  a  land  of  plenty  at  Panama ;  but  it  is  quite 
another  matter  for  those  who  stay  behind  to  droop  and 
die  of  hunger  in  the  wilderness."  **  To  this  Almagro 

**  "  No  era  bien  bolver  pobres,  &  pedir  limosna,  i  morir  en  las  Car- 
celes,  los  que  tenian  deudas."  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  10, 
cap.  2. 

2s  "  Como  iba,  i  venia  en  los  Navios,  adonde  no  le  faltaba  Vitualla, 
no  padecia  la  miseria  de  la  hambre,  i  otras  angustias  que  tenian,  i 
Peru. — VOL.  I.  22 


254  DISCOVERY   OF  PERU. 

retorted  with  some  heat,  professing  his  own  willingness 
to  take  charge  of  the  brave  men  who  would  remain 
with  him,  if  Pizarro  declined  it.  The  controversy 
assuming  a  more  angry  and  menacing  tone,  from  words 
they  would  have  soon  come  to  blows,  as  both,  laying 
their  hands  on  their  swords,  were  preparing  to  rush  on 
each  other,  when  the  treasurer  Ribera,  aided  by  the 
pilot  Ruiz,  succeeded  in  pacifying  them.  It  required 
but  little  effort  on  the  part  of  these  cooler  counsellors 
to  convince  the  cavaliers  of  the  folly  of  a  conduct 
which  must  at  once  terminate  the  expedition  in  a  man- 
ner little  creditable  to  its  projectors.  A  reconciliation 
consequently  took  place,  sufficient,  at  least  in  outward 
show,  to  allow  the  two  commanders  to  act  together  in 
concert.  Almagro's  plan  was  then  adopted ;  and  it 
only  remained  to  find  out  the  most  secure  and  con- 
venient spot  for  Pizarro's  quarters. 

Several  days  were  passed  in  touching  at  different  parts 
of  the  coast,  as  they  retraced  their  course ;  but  every- 
where the  natives  appeared  to  have  caught  the  alarm, 
and  assumed  a  menacing,  and  from  their  numbers  a 
formidable,  aspect.  The  more  northerly  region,  with 
its  unwholesome  fens  and  forests,  where  nature  wages  a 
ponian  a  todos  en  estrema  congoja."  (Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3, 
lib.  10,  cap.  2.)  The  cavaliers  of  Cortes  and  Pizarro.  however  doughty 
their  achievements,  certainly  fell  short  of  those  knights-errant,  com- 
memorated by  Hudibras,  who, 

"  As  some  think. 

Of  old  did  neither  eat  nor  drink  ; 

Because,  when  thorough  deserts  vast 

And  regions  desolate  they  past, 

Unless  they  grazed,  there's  not  one  word 

Of  their  provision  on  record  ; 

Which  made  some  confidently  write. 

They  had  no  stomachs  but  to  fight." 


PIZARKO    ON    THE    ISLE    OF    GALLO.        255 

war  even  more  relentless  than  man,  was  not  to  be 
thought  of.  In  this  perplexity,  they  decided  on  the 
little  island  of  Gallo,  as  being,  on  the  whole,  from  its 
distance  from  the  shore,  and  from  the  scantiness  of  its 
population,  the  most  eligible  spot  for  them  in  their 
forlorn  and  destitute  condition.36 

But  no  sooner  was  the  resolution  of  the  two  captains 
made  known  than  a  feeling  of  discontent  broke  forth 
among  their  followers,  especially  those  who  were  to 
remain  with  Pizarro  on  the  island.  "What!"  they 
exclaimed,  "were  they  to  be  dragged  to  that  obscure 
spot  to  die  by  hunger?  The  whole  expedition  had 
been  a  cheat  and  a  failure,  from  beginning  to  end. 
The  golden  countries,  so  much  vaunted,  had  seemed  to 
fly  before  them  as  they  advanced  ;  and  the  little  gold 
they  had  been  fortunate  enough  to  glean  had  all  been 
sent  back  to  Panama  to  entice  other  fools  to  follow 
their  example.  What  had  they  got  in  return  for  all 
their  sufferings  ?  The  only  treasures  they  could  boast 
were  their  bows  and  arrows,  and  they  were  now  to  be 
left  to  die  on  this  dreary  island,  without  so  much  as  a 
rood  of  consecrated  ground  to  lay  their  bones  in  !" 27 

26  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Relation  sacada  de  la 
Biblioteca  Imperial  de  Vienna,  MS. — Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. 
— Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  i. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3, 
lib.  10,  cap.  2. — It  was  singularly  unfortunate  that  Pizarro,  instead  of 
striking  farther  south,  should  have  so  long  clung  to  the  northern  shores 
of  the  continent.  Dampier  notices  them  as  afflicted  with  incessant 
rain ;  while  the  inhospitable  forests  and  the  particularly  ferocious  char- 
acter of  the  natives  continued  to  make  these  regions  but  little  known 
down  to  his  time.  See  his  Voyages  and  Adventures  (London,  1776), 
vol.  i.  chap.  14. 

»7 "  Miserablemente  morir  adonde  aun  no  havia  lugar  Sagrado,  para 
sepulturadesuscuerpos."  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  10,  cap.  3. 


256  DISCOVERY    OF  PERU. 

In  this  exasperated  state  of  feeling,  several  of  the 
soldiers  wrote  back  to  their  friends,  informing  them 
of  their  deplorable  condition,  and  complaining  of  the 
cold-blooded  manner  in  which  they  were  to  be  sacri- 
ficed to  the  obstinate  cupidity  of  their  leaders.  But 
the  latter  were  wary  enough  to  anticipate  this  move- 
ment, and  Almagro  defeated  it  by  seizing  all  the  letters 
in  the  vessels  and  thus  cutting  off  at  once  the  means 
of  communication  with  their  friends  at  home.  Yet 
this  act  of  unscrupulous  violence,  like  most  other  simi- 
lar acts,  fell  short  of  its  purpose ;  for  a  soldier  named 
Sarabia  had  the  ingenuity  to  evade  it  by  introducing  a 
letter  into  a  ball  of  cotton,  which  was  to  be  taken  to 
Panama  as  a  specimen  of  the  products  of  the  country 
and  presented  to  the  governor's  lady."8 

The  letter,  which  was  signed  by  several  of  the  dis- 
affected soldiery  besides  the  writer,  painted  in  gloomy 
colors  the  miseries  of  their  condition,  accused  the  two 
commanders  of  being  the  authors  of  this,  and  called 
on  the  authorities  at  Panama  to  interfere  by  sending  a 
vessel  to  take  them  from  the  desolate  spot  while  some 
of  them  might  still  be  found  surviving  the  horrors  of 
their  confinement.  The  epistle  concluded  with  a  stanza, 
in  which  the  two  leaders  were  stigmatized  as  partners 
in  a  slaughter-house, — one  being  employed  to  drive  in 
the  cattle  for  the  other  to  butcher.  The  verses,  which 
had  a  currency  in  their  day  among  the  colonists  to 

38  "  Metieron  en  un  ovillo  de  algodon  una  carta  firmada  de  muchos 
en  que  sumariamente  daban  cuenta  de  las  hambres,  muertes  y  desnu- 
dez  que  padecian,  y  que  era  cosa  de  risa  todo,  pues  las  riquezas  se 
habian  convertido  en  flechas,  y  no  havia  otra  cosa."  Montesinos, 
Annales,  MS.,  ano  1527. 


PIZARKO    OX    THE    ISLE    OF   GAI.LO.        257 

which  they  were  certainly  not  entitled  by  their  poet- 
ical merits,  may  be  thus  rendered  into  corresponding 
doggerel : 

"  Look  out,  Sefior  Governor, 

For  the  drover  while  he's  near ; 

Since  he  goes  home  to  get  the  sheep 

For  the  butcher,  who  stays  here."  ^ 

»»  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  181. — Naharro,  Re- 
lacion  sumaria,  MS. — Balboa,  Hist,  du  Perou,  chap.  15. — "  Al  fin  de 
la  peticion  que  hacian  en  la  carta  al  Governador  puso  Juan  de  Sara- 
bia,  natural  deTrujillo,  esta  cuarteta  : 

Pues  S«fior  Gobernador, 
Mirelo  bien  por  entero 
que  alii  va  el  recogedor, 
y  aca  queda  el  carnicero." 

Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1527. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

INDIGNATION   OF    THE   GOVERNOR. — STERN    RESOLUTION 
OF    PIZARRO. PROSECUTION    OF    THE   VOYAGE. BRIL- 

.     LIANT   ASPECT   OF   TUMBEZ. DISCOVERIES  ALONG  THE 

COAST. RETURN  TO  PANAMA. — PIZARRO  EMBARKS  FOR 

SPAIN. 

1527-1528. 

NOT  long  after  Almagro's  departure,  Pizarro  sent  off 
the  remaining  vessel,  under  the  pretext  of  its  being  put 
in  repair  at  Panama.  It  probably  relieved  him  of  a  part 
of  his  followers,  whose  mutinous  spirit  made  them  an 
obstacle  rather  than  a  help  in  his  forlorn  condition, 
and  with  whom  he  was  the  more  willing  to  part  from 
the  difficulty  of  finding  subsistence  on  the  barren  spot 
which  he  now  occupied. 

Great  was  the  dismay  occasioned  by  the  return  or 
Almagro  and  his  followers  in  the  little  community  of 
Panama ;  for  the  letter  surreptitiously  conveyed  in  the 
ball  of  cotton  fell  into  the  hands  for  which  it  was  in- 
tended, and  the  contents  soon  got  abroad,  with  the 
usual  quantity  of  exaggeration.  The  haggard  and  de- 
jected mien  of  the  adventurers,  of  itself,  told  a  tale 
sufficiently  disheartening,  and  it  was  soon  generally 
believed  that  the  few  ill-fated  survivors  of  the  expe- 
dition were  detained  against  their  will  by  Pizarro,  to 
end  their  days  with  their  disappointed  leader  on  his 
desolate  island. 

Pedro  de  los  Rios,  the  governor,  was  so  much  in- 
(258) 


INDIGNATION    OF    THE    GOVERNOR. 


259 


censed  at  the  result  of  the  expedition,  and  the  waste 
of  life  it  had  occasioned  to  the  colony,  that  he  turned 
a  deaf  ear  to  all  the  applications  of  Luque  and  Al- 
magro  for  further  countenance  in  the  affair ;  he  derided 
their  sanguine  anticipations  of  the  future,  and  finally 
resolved  to  send  an  officer  to  the  isle  of  Gallo,  with 
orders  to  bring  back  every  Spaniard  whom  he  should 
find  still  living  in  that  dreary  abode.  Two  vessels 
were  immediately  despatched  for  the  purpose,  and 
placed  under  charge  of  a  cavalier  named  Tafur,  a 
native  of  Cordova. 

Meanwhile,  Pizarro  and  his  followers  were  experi- 
encing all  the  miseries  which  might  have  been  expected 
from  the  character  of  the  barren  spot  on  which  they 
were  imprisoned.  They  were,  indeed,  relieved  from 
all  apprehensions  of  the  natives,  since  these  had  quitted 
the  island  on  its  occupation  by  the  white  men  ;  but  they 
had  to  endure  the  pains  of  hunger  even  in  a  greater 
degree  than  they  had  formerly  experienced  in  the  wild 
woods  of  the  neighboring  continent.  Their  principal 
food  was  crabs  and  such  shell-fish  as  they  could  scantily 
pick  up  along  the  shores.  Incessant  storms  of  thunder 
and  lightning,  for  it  was  the  rainy  season,  swept  over 
the  devoted  island  and  drenched  them  with  a  perpetual 
flood.  Thus,  half  naked,  and  pining  with  famine,  there 
were  few  in  that  little  company  who  did  not  feel  the 
spirit  of  enterprise  quenched  within  them,  or  who 
looked  for  any  happier  termination  of  their  difficulties 
than  that  afforded  by  a  return  to  Panama.  The  ap- 
pearance of  Tafur,  therefore,  with  his  two  vessels,  well 
stored  with  provisions,  was  greeted  with  all  the  rapture 
that  the  crew  of  a  sinking  wreck  might  feel  on  the 


260  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

arrival  of  some  unexpected  succor ;  and  the  only 
thought,  after  satisfying  the  immediate  cravings  of 
hunger,  was  to  embark  and  leave  the  detested  isle 
forever. 

But  by  the  same  vessel  letters  came  to  Pizarro  from 
his  two  confederates,  Luque  and  Almagro,  beseeching 
him  not  to  despair  in  his  present  extremity,  but  to 
hold  fast  to  his  original  purpose.  To  return  under  the 
present  circumstances  would  be  to  seal  the  fate  of  the 
expedition ;  and  they  solemnly  engaged,  if  he  would 
remain  firm  at  his  post,  to  furnish  him  in.  a  short  time 
with  the  necessary  means  for  going  forward.1 

A  ray  of  hope  was  enough  for  the  courageous  spirit 
of  Pizarro.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  himself  had 
entertained,  at  any  time,  thoughts  of  returning.  If  he 
had,  these  words  of  encouragement  entirely  banished 
them  from  his  bosom,  and  he  prepared  to  stand  the 
fortune  of  the  cast  on  which  he  had  so  desperately 
ventured.  He  knew,  however,  that  solicitations  or  re- 
monstrances would  avail  little  with  the  companions  of 
his  enterprise ;  and  he  probably  did  not  care  to  win 
over  the  more  timid  spirits  who,  by  perpetually  looking 
back,  would  only  be  a  clog  on  his  future  movements. 
He  announced  his  own  purpose,  however,  in  a  laconic 
but  decided  manner,  characteristic  of  a  man  more  ac- 
customed to  act  than  to  talk,  and  well  calculated  to 
make  an  impression  on  his  rough  followers. 

Drawing  his  sword,  he  traced  a  line  with  it  on  the 

1  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn,  iii.  p.  182. — Zarate,  Conq. 
del  Peru,  lib.  i.cap.  2. — Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,ano  1527. — Her- 
rera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  10,  cap.  3. — N'aharro,  Relacion  sumaria, 
MS. 


STEKN   RESOLUTION    OF  PIZARRO.          261 

sand  from  east  to  west.  Then,  turning  towards  the 
south,  "Friends  and  comrades!"  he  said,  "on  that* 
side  are  toil,  hunger,  nakedness,  the  drenching  storm, 
desertion,  and  death ;  on  this  side,  ease  and  pleasure. 
There  lies  Peru  with  its  riches ;  here,  Panama  and  its 
poverty.  Choose,  each  man,  what  best  becomes  a 
brave  Castilian.  For  my  part,  I  go  to  the  south." 
So  saying,  he  stepped  across  the  line.*  He  was  followed 
by  the  brave  pilot  Ruiz ;  next  by  Pedro  de  Candia,  a 
cavalier,  born,  as  his  name  imports,  in  one  of  the  isles 
of  Greece.  Eleven  others  successively  crossed  the 
line,  thus  intimating  their  willingness  to  abide  the  for- 
tunes of  their  leader,  for  good  or  for  evil.3  Fame,  to 
quote  the  enthusiastic  language  of  an  ancient  chroni- 
cler, has  commemorated  the  names  of  this  little  band, 
"who  thus,  in  the  face  of  difficulties  unexampled  in 
history,  with  death  rather  than  riches  for  their  reward, 

'  "  Obedeciola  Pizarro  y  antes  que  se  egecutase  saco  un  Punal,  y 
con  notable  animo  hizo  con  la  punta  una  raya  de  Oriente  a  Poniente  ; 
y  senalando  al  medio  dia,  que  era  la  parte  de  s'u  noticia,  y  derrotero 
dijo  ;  Camaradas  y  amigos,  esta  parte  es  la  de  la  muerte,  de  los  trabajos, 
de  las  hambres,  de  la  desnudez,  de  los  aguaceros,  y  desamparos ;  la  otra 
la  del  gusto  :  Por  aqui  se  ba  &  Panama  a  ser  pobres,  por  alia  al  Peru 
&  ser  ricos.  Escoja  el  que  fuere  buen  Castellano  lo  que  mas  bien  le 
estubiere.  Diciendo  esto  paso  la  raya :  siguieronle  Barthome  Ruiz 
natural  de  Moguer,  Pedro  de  Candi  Griego,  natural  de  Candia."  Mon- 
tesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  afio  1527. 

3  The  names  of  these  thirteen  faithful  companions  are  preserved  in 
the  convention  made  with  the  crown  two  years  later,  where  they  are 
suitably  commemorated  for  their  loyalty.  Their  names  should  not  be 
omitted  in  a  history  of  the  Conquest  of  Peru.  They  were  "  Bartolome' 
Ruiz,  Cristoval  de  Peralta,  Pedro  de  Candia,  Domingo  de  Soria  Luce, 
Nicolas  de  Ribera,  Francisco  de  Cuellar,  Alonso  de  Molina,  Pedro 
Alcon,  Garcia  de  Jerez,  Anton  de  Carrion,  Alonso  Briceno,  Martin  de 
Paz,  Joan  de  la  Torre." 


262  DISCOVERY   OF  PERU. 

preferred  it  all  to  abandoning  their  honor,  and  stood 
•firm  by  their  leader  as  an  example  of  loyalty  to  future 
ages."4 

But  the  act  excited  no  such  admiration  in  the  mind 
of  Tafur,  who  looked  on  it  as  one  of  gross  disobedi- 
ence to  the  commands  of  the  governor,  and  as  little 
better  than  madness,  involving  the  certain  destruction 
of  the  parties  engaged  in  it.  He  refused  to  give  any 
sanction  to  it  himself  by  leaving  one  of  his  vessels  with 
the  adventurers  to  prosecute  their  voyage,  and  it  was 
with  great  difficulty  that  he  could  be  persuaded  even 
to  allow  them  a  part  of  the  stores  which  he  had  brought 
for  their  support.  This  had  no  influence  on  their  de- 
termination, and  the  little  party,  bidding  adieu  to  their 
returning  comrades,  remained  unshaken  in  their  purpose 
of  abiding  the  fortunes  of  their  commander.5 

There  is  something  striking  to  the  imagination  in  the 
spectacle  of  these  few  brave  spirits  thus  consecrating 
themselves  to  a  daring  enterprise,  which  seemed  as  far 
above  their  strength  as  any  recorded  in  the  fabulous 
annals  of  knight-errantry.  A  handful  of  men,  without 
food,  without  clothing,  almost  without  arms,  without 
knowledge  of  the  land  to  which  they  were  bound, 
without  vessel  to  transport  them,  were  here  left  on  a 

4  "  Estos  fueron  los  trece  de  la  fama.  Estos  los  que  cercados  de 
los  mayores  trabajos  que  pudo  el  Mundo  ofrecer  d  hombres,  y  los  que 
estando  mas  para  esperar  la  muerte  que  las  riquezas  que  se  les  pro- 
metian,  todo  lo  pospusieron  a  la  honra,  y  siguieron  a  su  capitan  y 
caudillo  para  egemplo  de  lealtad  en  lo  futuro."  Montesinos,  Annales, 
MS.,  ano  1527. 

s  Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  2. — Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.-, 
ano  1527. — Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general, 
dec.  3,  lib.  10,  cap.  3. 


STERN    RESOLUTION    OF   PIZARRO.         263 

lonely  rock  in  the  ocean  with  the  avowed  purpose 
of  carrying  on  a  crusade  against  a  powerful  empire, 
staking  their  lives  on  its  success.  What  is  there  in 
the  legends  of  chivalry  that  surpasses  it  ?  This  was  the 
crisis  of  Pizarro's  fate.  There  are  moments  in  the  lives 
of  men,  which,  as  they  are  seized  or  neglected,  decide 
their  future  destiny.6  Had  Pizarro  faltered  from  his 
strong  purpose,  and  yielded  to  the  occasion,  now  so 
temptingly  present,  for  extricating  himself  and  his 
broken  band  from  their  desperate  position,  his  name 
would  have  been  buried  with  his  fortunes,  and  the  con- 
quest of  Peru  would  have  been  left  for  other  and  more 
successful  adventurers.  But  his  constancy  was  equal 
to  the  occasion,  and  his  conduct  here  proved  him  com- 
petent to  the  perilous  post  he  had  assumed,  and  inspired 
others  with  a  confidence  in  him  which  was  the  best 
assurance  of  success. 

In  the  vessel  that  bore  back  Tafur  and  those  who 
seceded  from  the  expedition  the  pilot  Ruiz  was  also 
permitted  to  return,  in  order  to  co-operate  with  Luque 
and  Almagro  in  their  application  for  further  succor. 

Not  long  after  the  departure  of  the  ships,  it  was  de- 

6  This  common  sentiment  is  expressed  with  uncommon  beauty  by 
the  fanciful  Boiardo,  where  he  represents  Rinaldo  as  catching  Fortune, 
under  the  guise  of  the  fickle  fairy  Morgana,  by  the  forelock.  The 
Italian  reader  may  not  be  displeased  to  refresh  his  memory  with  it : 

"  Chi  cerca  in  questo  mondo  aver  tesoro, 
O  diletto,  e  piacere,  honore,  e  stato, 
Ponga  la  mano  a  questa  chioma  d'  oro, 
Ch'  io  porto  in  fronte,  e  lo  far6  beato  ; 
Ma  quando  ha  in  destro  si  fatto  lavoro 
Non  prenda  indugio,  che  '1  tempo  passato 
Perduto  e  tutto,  e  non  ritoma  mai, 
Ed  io  mi  volto,  e  lui  lascio  con  guai." 

Orlando  Innamorato,  lib.  2,  canto  8. 


264  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

cided  by  Pizarro  to  abandon  his  present  quarters,  which 
had  little  to  recommend  them,  and  which,  he  reflected, 
might  now  be  exposed  to  annoyance  from  the  original 
inhabitants,  should  they  take  courage  and  return  on 
learning  the  diminished  number  of  the  white  men. 
The  Spaniards,  therefore,  by  his  orders,  constructed  a 
rude  boat  .or  raft,  on  which  they  succeeded  in  trans- 
porting themselves  to  the  little  island  of  Gorgona, 
twenty-five  leagues  to  the  north  of  their  present  resi- 
dence. It  lay  about  five  leagues  from  the  continent, 
and  was  uninhabited.  It  had  some  advantages  over 
the  isle  of  Gallo ;  for  it  stood  higher  above  the  sea, 
and  was  partially  covered  with  wood,  which  afforded 
shelter  to  a  species  of  pheasant,  and  the  hare  or  rabbit 
of  the  country,  so  that  the  Spaniards,  with  their  cross- 
bows, were  enabled  to  procure  a  tolerable  supply  of 
game.  Cool  streams  that  issued  from  the  living  rock 
furnished  abundance  of  water,  though  the  drenching 
rains  that  fell  without  intermission  left  them  in  no 
danger  of  perishing  by  thirst.  From  this  annoyance 
they  found  some  protection  in  the  rude  huts  which  they 
constructed  ;  though  here,  as  in  their  former  residence, 
they  suffered  from  the  no  less  intolerable  annoyance 
of  venomous  insects,  which  multiplied  and  swarmed  in 
the  exhalations  of  the  rank  and  stimulated  soil.  In 
this  dreary  abode  Pizarro  omitted  no  means  by  which 
to  sustain  the  drooping  spirits  of  his  men.  Morning 
prayers  were  duly  said,  and  the  evening  hymn  to  the 
Virgin  was  regularly  chanted ;  the  festivals  of  the 
Church  were  carefully  commemorated,  and  every  means 
taken  by  their  commander  to  give  a  kind  of  religious 
character  to  his  enterprise,  and  to  inspire  his  rough 


STERN   RESOLUTION    OF   PIZARRO.          26$ 

followers  with  a  confidence  in  the  protection  of 
Heaven,  that  might  support  them  in  their  perilous 
circumstances.7 

In  these  uncomfortable  quarters,  their  chief  employ- 
ment was  to  keep  watch  on  the  melancholy  ocean,  that 
they  might  hail  the  first  signal  of  the  anticipated  succor. 
But  many  a  tedious  month  passed  away,  and  no  sign  of 
it  appeared.  All  around  was  the  same  wide  waste  of 
waters,  except  to  the  eastward,  where  the  frozen  crest 
of  the  Andes,  touched  with  the  ardent  sun  of  the 
equator,  glowed  like  a  ridge  of  fire  along  the  whole 
extent  of  the  great  continent.  Every  speck  in  the 
distant  horizon  was  carefully  noticed,  and  the  drifting 
timber  or  masses  of  sea-weed,  heaving  to  and  fro  on 
the  bosom  of  the  waters,  was  converted  by  their  imagi- 
nations into  the  promised  vessel ;  till,  sinking  under 
successive  disappointments,  hope  gradually  gave  way 
to  doubt,  and  doubt  settled  into  despair.8 

Meanwhile  the  vessel  of  Tafur  had  reached  the  port 
of  Panama.  The  tidings  which  she  brought  of  the  in- 
flexible obstinacy  of  Pizarro  and  his  followers  filled  the 
governor  with  indignation.  He  could  look  on  it  in  no 
other  light  than  as  an  act  of  suicide,  and  steadily  re- 
fused to  send  further  assistance  to  men  who  were  obsti- 
nately bent  on  their  own  destruction.  Yet  Luque  and 
Almagro  were  true  to  their  engagements.  They  repre- 

7  "  Cada  Manana  daban  gracias  a  Dios  :  &  las  tardes  decian  la  Salve, 
i  otras  Oraciones,  por  las  Horas  :  sabian  las  Fiestas,  i  tenian  cuenta  con 
los  Viernes,  i  Domingos."      Herrera,   Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  10, 
cap.  3. 

8  "  Al  cabo  de  muchos  Dias  aguardando,  estaban  tan  angustiados, 
que  los  salages,  que  se  hacian  bien  dentro  de  la  Mar,  les  parecia,  que 
era  el  Navio."     Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  10,  cap.  4. 

Peru.— VOL.  I.— M  23 


256  DISCOVERY   OF  PERU. 

sented  to  the  governor  that,  if  the  conduct  of  theii 
comrade  was  rash,  it  was  at  least  in  the  service  of  the 
crown  and  in  prosecuting  the  great  work  of  discovery. 
Rios  had  been  instructed,  on  his  taking  the  govern- 
ment, to  aid  Pizarro  in  the  enterprise ;  and  to  desert 
him  now  would  be  to  throw  away  the  remaining  chance 
of  success,  and  to  incur  the  responsibility  of  his  death 
and  that  of  the  brave  men  who  adhered  to  him.  These 
remonstrances,  at  length,  so  far  operated  on  the  mind 
of  that  functionary  that  he  reluctantly  consented  that 
a  vessel  should  be  sent  to  the  island  of  Gorgona,  but 
with  no  more  hands*  than  were  necessary  to  work  her, 
and  with  positive  instructions  to  Pizarro  to  return  in 
six  months  and  report  himself  at  Panama,  whatever 
might  be  the  future  results  of  his  expedition. 

Having  thus  secured  the  sanction  of  the  executive, 
the  two  associates  lost  no  time  in  fitting  out  a  small 
vessel  with  stores  and  a  supply  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion, and  despatched,  it  to  the  island.  The  unfortunate 
tenants  of  this  little  wilderness,  who  had  now  occupied 
it  for  seven  months,9  hardly  dared  to  trust  their  senses 
when  they  descried  the  white  sails  of  the  friendly  bark 
coming  over  the  waters.  And  although,  when  the 
vessel  anchored  off  the  shore,  Pizarro  was  disappointed 
to  find  that  it  brought  no  additional  recruits  for  the 
enterprise,  yet  he  greeted  it  with  joy,  as  affording  the 
means  of  solving  the  great  problem  of  the  existence 
of  the  rich  southern  empire,  and  of  thus  opening  the 
way  for  its  future  conquest.  Two  of  his  men  were  so 
ill  that  it  was  determined  to  leave  them  in  the  care  of 

9  "  Estubieron    con   estos   trabajos  con    igualdad  de    animo  siete 
Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1527. 


PROSECUTION   OF    THE    VOYAGE.  267 

some  of  the  friendly  Indians  who  had  continued  with 
him  through  the  whole  of  his  sojourn,  and  to  call  for 
them  on  his  return.  Taking  with  him  the  rest  of  his 
hardy  followers  and  the  natives  of  Tumbez,  he  em- 
barked, and,  speedily  weighing  anchor,  bade  adieu  to 
the  "Hell,"  as  it  was  called  by  the  Spaniards,  which 
had  been  the  scene  of  so  much  suffering  and  such  un- 
daunted resolution.10 

Every  heart  was  now  elated  with  hope,  as  they  found 
themselves  once  more  on  the  waters,  under  the  guidance 
of  the  good  pilot  Ruiz,  who,  obeying  the  directions  of 
the  Indians,  proposed  to  steer  for  the  land  of  Tumbez, 
which  would  bring  them  at  once  into  the  golden  empire 
of  the  Incas,— the  El  Dorado  of  which  they  had  been 
so  long  in  pursuit.  Passing  by  the  dreary  isle  of  Gallo, 
which  they  had  such  good  cause  to  remember,  they 
stood  farther  out  to  sea  until  they  made  Point  Tacu- 
mez,  near  which  they  had  landed  on  their  previous 
voyage.  They  did  not  touch  at  any  part  of  the  coast, 
but  steadily  held  on  their  way,  though  considerably 
impeded  by  the  currents,  as  well  as  by  the  wind,  which 
blew  with  little  variation  from  the  south.  Fortunately, 
the  wind  was  light,  and,  as  the  weather  was  favorable, 
their  voyage,  though  slow,  was  not  uncomfortable.  In 
a  few  days  they  came  in  sight  of  Point  Pasado,  the 
limit  of  the  pilot's  former  navigation  ;  and,  crossing 
the  line,  the  little  bark  entered  upon  those  unknown 
seas  which  had  never  been  ploughed  by  European  keel 

10  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  182. — Montesinos, 
Annales,  MS.,  ano  1527. — Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. — Herrera, 
Hist,  general,  dec,  3,  lib.  10,  cap.  4. — Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq., 
MS. 


268  DISCOVERY   OF   PERU. 

before.  The  coast,  they  observed,  gradually  declined 
from  its  former  bold  and  rugged  character,  gently 
sloping  towards  the  shore,  and  spreading  out  into 
sandy  plains,  relieved  here  and  there  by  patches  of 
uncommon  richness  and  beauty ;  while  the  white  cot- 
tages of  the  natives  glistening  along  the  margin  of  the 
sea,  and  the  smoke  that  rose  among  the  distant  hills, 
intimated  the  increasing  population  of  the  country. 

At  length,  after  the  lapse  of  twenty  days  from  their 
departure  from  the  island,  the  adventurous  vessel 
rounded  the  point  of  St.  Helena  and  glided  smoothly 
into  the  waters  of  the  beautiful  gulf  of  Guayaquil. 
The  country  was  here  studded  along  the  shore  with 
towns  and  villages,  though  the  mighty  .chain  of  the 
Cordilleras,  sweeping  up  abruptly  from  the  coast,  left 
but  a  narrow  strip  of  emerald  verdure,  through  which 
numerous  rivulets,  spreading  fertility  around  them, 
wound  their  way  to  the  sea. 

The  voyagers  were  now  abreast  of  some  of  the  most 
stupendous  heights  of  this  magnificent  range ;  Chim- 
borazo,  with  its  broad  round  summit,  towering  like  the 
dome  of  the  Andes,  and  Cotopaxi,  with  its  dazzling 
cone  of  silvery  white,  that  knows  no  change  except  from 
the  action  of  its  own  volcanic  fires ;  for  this  mountain  is 
the  most  terrible  of  the  American  volcanoes,  and  was 
in  formidable  activity  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
period  of  our  narrative.  Well  pleased  with  the  signs 
of  civilization  that  opened  on  them  at  every  league  of 
their  progress,  the  Spaniards  at  length  came  to  anchor, 
off  the  island  of  Santa  Clara,  lying  at  the  entrance  of 
the  bay  of  Tumbez." 

11  According  to  Garcilasso,  two  years  elapsed  between  the  departure 


BRILLIANT  ASPECT    OF    TUMBEZ.  269 

The  place  was  uninhabited,  but  was  recognized  by 
the  Indians  on  board  as  occasionally  resorted  to  by  the 
warlike  people  of  the  neighboring  island  of  Puna  for 
purposes  of  sacrifice  and  worship.  The  Spaniards 
found  on  the  spot  a  few  bits  of  gold  rudely  wrought 
into  various  shapes,  and  probably  designed  as  offerings 
to  the  Indian  deity.  Their  hearts  were  cheered,  as  the 
natives  assured  them  they  would  see  abundance  of  the 
same  precious  metal  in  their  own  city  of  Tumbez. 

The  following  morning  they  stood  across  the  bay  for 
this  place.  As  they  drew  near,  they  beheld  a  town  of 
considerable  size,  with  many  of  the  buildings  appar- 
ently of  stone  and  plaster,  situated  in  the  bosom  of  a 
fruitful  meadow,  which  seemed  to  have  been  redeemed 
from  the  sterility  of  the  surrounding  country  by  care- 
ful and  minute  irrigation.  When  at  some  distance 
from  shore,  Pizarro  saw  standing  towards  him  several 
large  balsas,  which  were  found  to  be  filled  with  war- 
riors going  on  an  expedition  against  the  island  of 
Puna.  Running  alongside  of  the  Indian  flotilla,  he 
invited  some  of  the  chiefs  to  come  on  board  of  his 
vessel.  The  Peruvians  gazed  with  wonder  on  every 
object  which  met  their  eyes,  and  especially  on  their 
own  countrymen,  whom  they  had  little  expected  to 
meet  there.  The  latter  informed  them  in  what  manner 
they  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  strangers,  whom 
they  described  as  a  wonderful  race  of  beings,  that  had 

from  Gorgona  and  the  arrival  at  Tumbez.  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  2,  lib. 
i,  cap.  n.)  Such  gross  defiance  of  chronology  is  rather  common 
even  in  the  narratives  of  these  transactions,  where  it  is  as  difficult  to 
fix  a  precise  date,  amidst  the  silence,  rather  than  the  contradictions, 
of  contemporary  statements,  as  if  the  events  had  happened  before 
the  deluge. 

23* 


270  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

come  thither  for  no  harm,  but  solely  to  be  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  country  and  its  inhabitants.  This 
account  was  confirmed  by  the  Spanish  commander, 
who  persuaded  the  Indians  to  return  in  their  balsas 
and  report  what  they  had  learned  to  their  townsmen, 
requesting  them  at  the  same  time  to  provide  his  vessel 
with  refreshments,  as  it  was  his  desire  to  enter  into 
friendly  intercourse  with  the  natives. 

The  people  of  Tumbez  were  gathered  along  the 
shore,  and  were  gazing  with  unutterable  amazement 
on  the  floating  castle,  which,  now  having  dropped 
anchor,  rode  lazily  at  its  moorings  in  their  bay.  They 
eagerly  listened  to  the  accounts  of  their  countrymen, 
and  instantly  reported  the  affair  to  the  curaca  or  ruler 
of  the  district,  who,  conceiving  that  the  strangers  must 
be  beings  of  a  superior  order,  prepared  at  once  to 
comply  with  their  request.  It  was  not  long  before 
several  balsas  were  seen  steering  for  the  vessel,  laden 
with  bananas,  plantains,  yuca,  Indian  corn,  sweet  po- 
tatoes, pine-apples,  cocoanuts,  and  other  rich  products 
of  the  bountiful  vale  of  Tumbez.  Game  and.  fish,  also, 
were  added,  with  a  number  of  llamas,  of  which  Pizarro 
had  seen  the  rude  drawings  belonging  to  Balboa,  but 
of  which  till  now  he  had  met  with  no  living  specimen. 
He  examined  this  curious  animal,  ihe  Peruvian  sheep, 
— or,  as  the  Spaniards  called  it,  Ihe  "  little  camel"  of  the 
Indians, — with  much  interest,  greatly  admiring  the 
mixture  of  wool  and  hair  which  supplied  the  natives 
with  the  materials  for  their  fabrics. 

At  that  time  there  happened  to  be  at  Tumbez  an 
Inca  noble,  or  orejon, — for  so,  as  I  have  already  no- 
ticed, men  of  his  rank  were  called  by  the  Spaniards, 


BRILLIANT  ASPECT    OF    TUMBEZ. 


271 


from  the  huge  ornaments  of  gold  attached  to  their 
ears.  He  expressed  great  curiosity  to  see  the  wonder- 
ful strangers,  and  had,  accordingly,  come  out  with  the 
balsas  for  the  purpose.  It  was  easy  to  perceive  from 
the  superior  quality  of  his  dress,  as  well  as  from  the 
deference  paid  to  him  by  the  others,  that  he  was  a  per- 
son of  consideration  ;  and  Pizarro  received  him  with 
marked  distinction.  He  showed  him  the  different 
parts  of  the  ship,  explaining  to  him  the  uses  of  what- 
ever engaged  his  attention,  and  answering  his  numer- 
ous queries,  as  well  as  he  could,  by  means  of  the  Indian 
interpreters.  The  Peruvian  chief  was  especially  desir- 
ous of  knowing  whence  and  why  Pizarro  and  his  fol- 
lowers had  come  to  these  shores.  The  Spanish  captain 
replied  that  he  was  the  vassal  of  a  great  prince,  the 
greatest  and  most  powerful  in  the  world,  and  that  he 
had  come  to  this  country  to  assert  his  master's  lawful 
supremacy  over  it.  He  had  further  come  to  rescue  the 
inhabitants  from  the  darkness  of  unbelief  in  which 
they  were  now  wandering.  They  worshipped  an  evil 
spirit,  who  would  sink  their  souls  into  everlasting  per- 
dition ;  and  he  would  give  them  the  knowledge  of  the 
true  and  only  God,  Jesus  Christ,  since  to  believe  in 
Him  was  eternal  salvation." 

The  Indian  prince  listened  with  deep  attention  and 
apparent  wonder,  but -answered  nothing.  It  may  be 
that  neither  he  nor  his  interpreters  had  any  very  dis- 

12  The  text  abridges  somewhat  the  discourse  of  the  military  po- 
lemic ;  which  is  reported  at  length  by  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3, 
lib.  10,  cap.  4. — See  also  Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1527. — 
Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. — Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. — Re- 
lacion  del  primer  Pescub.,  MS, 


2 72  DISCOVERY   OF  PER U. 

tinct  ideas  of  the  doctrines  thus  abruptly  revealed  to 
them.  It  may  be  that  he  did  not  believe  there  was 
any  other  potentate  on  earth  greater  than  the  Inca; 
none,  at  least,  who  had  a  better  right  to  rule  over  his 
dominions.  And  it  is  very  possible  he  was  not  dis- 
posed to  admit  that  the  great  luminary  whom  he  wor- 
shipped was  inferior  to  the  God  of  the  Spaniards.  But 
whatever  may  have  passed  in  the  untutored  mind  of 
the  barbarian,  he  did  not  give  vent  to  it,  but  main- 
tained a  discreet  silence,  without  any  attempt  to  con- 
trovert or  to  convince  his  Christian  antagonist. 

He  remained  on  board  the  vessel  till  the  hour  of 
dinner,  of  which  he  partook  with  the  Spaniards,  ex- 
pressing his  satisfaction  at  the  strange  dishes,  and 
especially  pleased  with  the  wine,  which  he  pronounced 
far  superior  to  the  fermented  liquors  of  his  own  coun- 
try. On  taking  leave,  he  courteously  pressed  the 
Spaniards  to  visit  Tumbez,  and  Pizarro  dismissed  him 
with  the  present,  among  other  things,  of  an  iron 
hatchet,  which  had  greatly  excited  his  admiration ;  for 
the  use  of  iron,  as  we  have  seen,  was  as  little  known  to 
the  Peruvians  as  to  the  Mexicans. 

On  the  day  following,  the  Spanish  captain  sent  one 
of  his  own  men,  named  Alonso  de  Molina,  on  shore, 
accompanied  by  a  negro  who  had  come  in  the  vessel 
from  Panama,  together  with  a  present  for  the  curaca 
of  some  swine  and  poultry,  neither  of  which  were  in- 
digenous to  the  New  World.  Towards  evening  his 
emissary  returned  with  a  fresh  supply  of  fruits  and 
vegetables,  that  the  friendly  people  sent  to  the  vessel. 
Molina  had  a  wondrous  tale  to  tell.  On  landing,  he 
was  surrounded  by  the  natives,  who  expressed  the 


BRILLIANT  ASPECT    OF    TUAIBEZ. 


273 


greatest  astonishment  at  his  dress,  his  fair  complexion, 
and  his  long  beard.  The  women,  especially,  mani- 
fested great  curiosity  in  respect  to  him,  and  Molina 
seemed  to  be  entirely  won  by  their  charms  and  capti- 
vating manners.  He  probably  intimated  his  satisfac- 
tion by  his  demeanor,  since  they  urged  him  to  stay 
among  them,  promising  in  that  case  to  provide  him 
with  a  beautiful  wife. 

Their  surprise  was  equally  great  at  the  complexion 
of  his  sable  companion.  They  could  not  believe  it 
was  natural,  and  tried  to  rub  off  the  imaginary  dye 
with  their  hands.  As  the  African  bore  all  this  with 
characteristic  good  humor,  displaying  at  the  same  time 
his  rows  of  ivory  teeth,  they  were  prodigiously  de- 
lighted.13 The  animals  were  no  less  above  their  com- 
prehension ;  and,  when  the  cock  crew,  the  simple 
people  clapped  their  hands  and  inquired  what  he  was 
saying.14  Their  intellects  were  so  bewildered  by  sights 
so  novel  that  they  seemed  incapable  of  distinguishing 
between  man  and  brute. 

Molina  was  then  escorted  to  the  residence  of  the 
curaca,  whom  he  found  living  in  much  state,  with  por- 
ters stationed  at  his  doors,  and  with  a  quantity  of  gold 
and  silver  vessels,  from  which  he  was  served.  He  was 
then  taken  to  different  parts  of  the  Indian  city,  and  saw 
a  fortress  built  of  rough  stone,  and,  though  low,  spread- 
ing over  a  large  extent  of  ground. IS  Near  this  was  a 

«3  "  No  se  cansaban  de  mirarle,  hacianle  labar,  para  versi  se  le  qui- 
laba  la  Tinta  negra,  i  £1  lo  hacia  de  buena  gana,  riendose,  i  mostrando 
sus  Dientes  blancos."  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  10,  cap.  5. 

'«  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

«s  ' '  Cerca  del  solia  estar  una  fortaleza  muy  fuerte  y  de  linda  obra, 
hecha  por  los  Yngas  reyesdel  Cuzco  y  senores  de  todo  el  Peru.  .  .  . 
M* 


274  DISCOVERY    OF  PERU. 

temple;  and  the  Spaniard's  description  of  its  decora- 
tions, blazing  with  gold  and  silver,  seemed  so  extrava- 
gant that  Pizarro,  distrusting  his  whole  account,  resolved 
to  send  a  more  discreet  and  trustworthy  emissary  on  the 
following  day.16 

The  person  selected  was  Pedro  de  Candia,  the  Greek 
cavalier  mentioned  as  one  of  the  first  who  intimated 
his  intention  to  share  the  fortunes  of  his  commander. 
He  was  sent  on  shore,  dressed  in  complete  mail,  as 
became  a  good  knight,  with  his  sword  by  his  side,  and 
his  arquebuse  on  his  shoulder.  The  Indians  were  even 
more  dazzled  by  his  appearance  than  by  Molina's,  as 
the  sun  fell  brightly  on  his  polished  armor  and  glanced 
from  his  military  weapons.  They  had  heard  much  of 
the  formidable  arquebuse  from  their  townsmen  who  had 
come  in  the  vessel,  and  they  besought  Candia  "to  let 
it  speak  to  them."  He  accordingly  set  up  a  wooden 
board  as  a  target,  and,  taking  deliberate  aim,  fired  off 
the  musket.  The  flash  of  the  powder  and  the  startling 
report  of  the  piece,  as  the  board,  struck  by  the  ball, 
was  shivered  into  splinters,  filled  the  natives  with  dis- 
may. Some  fell  on  the  ground,  covering  their  faces 
with  their  hands,  and  others  approached  the  cavalier 
with  feelings  of  awe,  which  were  gradually  dispelled  by 
the  assurance  they  received  from  the  smiling  expression 
of  his  countenance.17 

Ya  esta  el  edificio  desta  fortaleza  muy  gastado  y  deshecho :  mas  no 
para  que  dexe  de  dar  muestra  de  lo  mucho  que  fue."  Cieza  de  Leon, 
Cronica,  cap.  4. 

16  Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  loc.  cit. — 
Zarate,  Conq.  dej  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  2. 

T  It  is  moreover  stated  that  the  Indians,  desirous  to  prove  still 
further  the  superhuman  nature  of  the  Spanish  cavalier,  let  loose  on 


BRILLIANT  ASPECT    OF   TUMBEZ. 


275 


They  then  showed  him  the  same  hospitable  atten- 
tions which  they  had  paid  to  Molina;  and  his  de- 
scription of  the  marvels  of  the  place,  on  his  return, 
fell  nothing  short  of  his  predecessor's.  The  fortress, 
which  was  surrounded  by  a  triple  row  of  wall,  was 
strongly  garrisoned.  The  temple  he  described  as  lit- 
erally tapestried  with  plates  of  gold  and  silver.  Ad- 
joining this  structure  was  a  sort  of  convent  appropri- 
ated to  the  Inca's  destined  brides,  who  manifested 
great  curiosity  to  see  him.  Whether  this  was  gratified 
is  not  clear ;  but  Candia  described  the  gardens  of  the 
convent,  which  he  entered,  as  glowing  with  imitations 
of  fruits  and  vegetables  all  in  pure  gold  and  silver.'8 
He  had  seen  a  number  of  artisans  at  work,  whose  sole 
business  seemed  to  be  to  furnish  these  gorgeous  deco- 
rations for  the  religious  houses. 

him  a  tiger — a  jaguar  probably — which  was  caged  in  the  royal  fortress. 
But  Don  Pedro  was  a  good  Catholic,  and  he  gently  laid  the  cross  which 
he  wore  round  his  neck  on  the  animal's  back,  who,  instantly  forgetting 
his  ferocious  nature,  crouched  at  the  cavalier's  feet  and  began  to  play 
round  him  in  innocent  gambols.  The  Indians,  now  more  amazed 
than  ever,  nothing  doubted  of  the  sanctity  of  their  guest,  and  bore 
him  in  triumph  on  their  shoulders  to  the  temple.  This  credible  anec- 
dote is  repeated,  without  the  least  qualification  or  distrust,  by  several 
contemporary  writers.  (See  Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. — Her- 
rera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  10,  cap.  5. — Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica, 
cap.  54. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  2,  lib.  i,  cap.  12.)  This  last 
author  may  have  had  his  version  from  Candia's  own  son,  with  whom 
he  tells  us  he  was  brought  up  at  school.  It  will  no  doubt  find  as  easy 
admission  with  those  of  the  present  day  who  conceive  that  the  age  of 
miracles  has  not  yet  passed. 

18  "  Que  habia  visto  un  jardin  donde  las  yerbas  eran  de  oro  imitando 
en  un  todo  a  las  naturales,  arboles  con  frutas  de  lo  mismo,  y  otras 
muchas  cosas  d  este  modo,  con  que  aficiono  grandemente  &  sus  cotn- 
pafteros  &  esta  conquista."  Montesinos,  Annales,  ano  1527. 


,76  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

The  reports  of  the  cavalier  may  have  been  somewhat 
overcolored.'9  It  was  natural  that  men  coming  from 
the  dreary  wilderness  in  which  they  had  been  buried 
the  last  six  months  should  have  been  vividly  impressed 
by  the  tokens  of  civilization  which  met  them  on  the 
Peruvian  coast.  But  Tumbez  was  a  favorite  city  of 
the  Peruvian  princes.  It  was  the  most  important  place 
on  the  northern  borders  of  the  empire,  contiguous  to 
the  recent  acquisition  of  Quito.  The  great  Tupac 
Yupanqui  had  established  a  strong  fortress  there,  and 
peopled  it  with  a  colony  of  mitimaes.  The  temple, 
and  the  house  occupied  by  the  Virgins  of  the  Sun, 
had  been  erected  by  Huayna  Capac,  and  were  liberally 
endowed  by  that  Inca,  after  the  sumptuous  fashion  of 
the  religious  establishments  of  Peru.  The  town  was 
well  supplied  with  water  by  numerous  aqueducts ;  and 
the  fruitful  valley  in  which  it  was  embosomed,  and  the 
ocean  which  bathed  its  shores,  supplied  ample  means 
of  subsistence  to  a  considerable  population.  But  the 
cupidity"  of  the  Spaniards,  after  the  Conquest,  was  not 
slow  in  despoiling  the  place  of  its  glories ;  and  the 
site  of  its  proud  towers  and  temples,  in  less  than  half  a 

'9  The  worthy  knight's  account  does  not  seem  to  have  found  favor 
with  the  old  Conqueror,  so  often  cited  in  these  pages,  who  says  that, 
when  they  afterwards  visited  Tumbez,  the  Spaniards  found  Candia's 
relation  a  lie  from  beginning  to  end,  except,  indeed,  in  respect  to  the 
temple  ;  though  the  veteran  acknowledges  that  what  was  deficient  in 
Tumbez  was  more  than  made  up  by  the  magnificence  of  other  places 
in  the  empire  not  then  visited.  "  Lo  cual  fue  mentira ;  porque  despues 
que  todos  los  Espanoles  entramos  en  ella,  se  vi6  por  vista  de  ojos  ha- 
ber  mentido  en  todo,  salvo  en  lo  del  templo,  que  este  era  cosa  de  ver, 
aunque  mucho  mas  de  lo  que  aquel  encarecio,  lo  que  falto  en  esta 
ciudad,  se  hal!6  despues  en  otras  que  muchas  leguas  mas  ade'ante  se 
descubrieron."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


D/scoi7-:K//-:s  ALONG  THE  COAST.       277 

century  after  that  fatal  period,  was  to  be  traced  only  by 
the  huge  mass  of  ruins  that  encumbered  the  ground.20 

The  Spaniards  were  nearly  mad  with  joy,  says  an 
old  writer,  at  receiving  these  brilliant  tidings  of  the 
Peruvian  city.  All  their  fond  dreams  were  now  to  be 
realized,  and  they  had  at  length  reached  the  realm 
which  had  so  long  flitted  in  visionary  splendor  before 
them.  Pizarro  expressed  his  gratitude  to  Heaven  for 
having  crowned  his  labors  with  so  glorious  a  result ; 
but  he  bitterly  lamented  the  hard  fate  which,  by  de- 
priving him  of  his  followers,  denied  him,  at  such  a 
moment,  the  means  of  availing  himself  of  his  success. 
Yet  he  had  no  cause  for  lamentation ;  and  the  devout 
Catholic  saw  in  this  very  circumstance  a  providential 
interposition  which  prevented  the  attempt  at  conquest 
while  such  attempts  would  have  been  premature.  Peru 
was  not  yet  torn  asunder  by  the  dissensions  of  rival  can- 
didates for  the  throne ;  and,  united  and  strong  under 
the  sceptre  of  a  warlike  monarch,  she  might  well  have 
bid  defiance  to  all  the  forces  that  Pizarro  could  mus- 
ter. "It  was  manifestly  the  work  of  Heaven,"  ex- 
claims a  devout  son  of  the  Church,  "  that  the  natives 
of  the  country  should  have  received  him  in  so  kind  and 
loving  a  spirit  as  best  fitted  to  facilitate  the  conquest ; 
for  it  was  the  Lord's  hand  which  led  him  and  his  fol- 
lowers to  this  remote  region  for  the  extension  of  the 
holy  faith,  and  for  the  salvation  of  souls. ' ' 2I 

20  Cieza  de  Leon,  who  crossed  this  part  of  the  country  in  1548,  men- 
tions the  wanton  manner  in  which  the  hand  of  the  Conqueror  had 
fallen  on  the  Indian  edifices,  which  lay  in  ruins  even  at  that  early 
period.     Cronica,  cap.  67. 

21  "  I  si  le  recibiesen  con  amor,  hiciese  su  Mrd.  lo  que  mas  conve- 
niente  le  pareciese  al  efecto  de  su  conquista  :  porque  tenia  entendido, 

Peru.— VOL.  I.  24 


278  D/SCOVEKY   OF   PERU. 

Having  now  collected  all  the  information  essential 
to  his  object,  Pizarro,  after  taking  leave  of  the  natives 
of  Tumbez  and  promising  a  speedy  return,  weighed 
anchor,  and  again  turned  his  prow  towards  the  south. 
Still  keeping  as  near  as  possible  to  the  coast,  that  no 
place  of  importance  might  escape  his  observation,  he 
passed  Cape  Blanco,  and,  after  sailing  about  a  degree 
and  a  half,  made  the  port  of  Payta.  The  inhabitants, 
who  had  notice  of  his  approach,  came  out  in  their 
balsas  to  get  sight  of  the  wonderful  strangers,  bringing 
with  them  stores  of  fruits,  fish,  and  vegetables,  with 
the  same  hospitable  spirit  shown  by  their  countrymen 
at  Tumbez. 

After  staying  here  a  short  time,  and  interchanging 
presents  of  trifling  value  with  the  natives,  Pizarro  con- 
tinued his  cruise;  and,  sailing  by  the  sandy  plains 
of  Sechura  for  an  extent  of  near  a  hundred  miles,  he 
doubled  the  Punta  de  Aguja,  and  swept  down  the  coast 
as  it  fell  off  towards  the  east,  still  carried  forward  by 
light  and  somewhat  variable  breezes.  The  weather 
now  became  unfavorable,  and  the  voyagers  encountered 
a  succession  of  heavy  gales,  which  drove  them  some 
distance  out  to  sea  and  tossed  them  about  for  many 
days.  But  they  did  not  lose  sight  of  the  mighty  ranges 
of  the  Andes,  which,  as  they  proceeded  towards  the 
south,  were  still  seen,  at  nearly  the  same  distance  from 
the  shore,  rolling  onwards,  peak  after  peak,  with  their 
stupendous  surges  of  ice,  like  some  vast  ocean  that  had 
been  suddenly  arrested  and  frozen  up  in  the  midst  of 
its  wild  and  tumultuous  career.  With  this  landmark 

que  el  haverlos  traido  Dios  erd  para  que  su  santa  fe  se  dilatase  i 
aquellas  almas  se  salvasen."     Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. 


DISCOVERIES   ALONG    THE   COAST. 


279 


always  in  view,  the  navigator  had  little  need  of  star  01 
compass  to  guide  his  bark  on  her  course. 

As  soon  as  the  tempest  had  subsided,  Pizarro  stood 
in  again  for  the  continent,  touching  at  the  principal 
points  as  he  coasted  along.  Everywhere  he  was  re- 
ceived with  the  same  spirit  of  generous  hospitality, 
the  natives  coming  out  in  their  balsas  to  welcome  him, 
laden  with  their  little  cargoes  of  fruits  and  vegetables, 
of  all  the  luscious  varieties  that  grow  in  the  tierra 
caliente.  All  were  eager  to  have  a  glimpse  of  the 
strangers,  the  "Children  of  the  Sun,"  as  the  Span- 
iards began  already  to  be  called,  from  their  fair  com- 
plexions, brilliant  armor,  and  the  thunderbolts  which 
they  bore  in  their  hands.23  The  most  favorable  re- 
ports, too,  had  preceded  them,  of  the  urbanity  and 
gentleness  of  their  manners,  thus  unlocking  the  hearts 
of  the  simple  natives  and  disposing  them  to  confidence 
and  kindness.  The  iron-hearted  soldier  had  not  yet 
disclosed  the  darker  side  of  his  character.  He  was 
too  weak  to  do  so.  The  hour  of  conquest  had  not  yet 
come. 

In  every  place  Pizarro  received  the  same  accounts  of 
a  powerful  monarch  who  ruled  over  the  land,  and  held 
his  court  on  the  mountain  plains  of  the  interior,  where 
his  capital  was  depicted  as  blazing  with  gold  and  silver 
and  displaying  all  the  profusion  of  an  Oriental  satrap. 
The  Spaniards,  except  at  Tumbez,  seem  to  have  met 
with  little  of  the  precious  metals  among  the  natives 
on  the  coast.  More  than  one  writer  asserts  that  they 
did  not  covet  them,  or  at  least,  by  Pizarro 's  orders, 

»  "  Que  resplandecian  como  el  Sol.  Llamabanles  hijos  del  Sol  por 
esto."  Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1528. 


28o  DISCOVERY    OF   PJ-.Ki: 

affected  not  to  do  so.  He  would  not  have  them  betray 
their  appetite  for  gold,  and  actually  refused  gifts  when 
they  were  proffered  ! 23  It  is  more  probable  that  they 
saw  little  display  of  wealth,  except  in  the  embellish- 
ments of  the  temples  and  other  sacred  buildings,  which 
they  did  not  dare  to  violate.  The  precious  metals,  re- 
served for  the  uses  of  religion  and  for  persons  of  high 
degree,  were  not  likely  to  abound  in  the  remote  towns 
and  hamlets  on  the  coast. 

Yet  the  Spaniards  met  with  sufficient  evidence  of 
general  civilization  and  power  to  convince  them  that 
there  was  much  foundation  for  the  reports  of  the 
natives.  Repeatedly  they  saw  structures  of  stone 
and  plaster,  occasionally  showing  architectural  skill  in 
.the  executfon,  if  not  elegance  of  design.  Wherever 
they  cast  anchor,  they  beheld  green  patches  of  culti- 
vated country  redeemed  from  the  sterility  of  nature 
and  blooming  with  the  variegated  vegetation  of  the 
tropics ;  while  a  refined  system  of  irrigation,  by  means 
of  aqueducts  and  canals,  seemed  to  be  spread  like  a 
net-work  over  the  surface  of  the  country,  making  even 
the  desert  to  blossom  as  the  rose.  At  many  places 
where  they  landed  they  saw  the  great  road  of  the 
Incas  which  traversed  the  sea-coast,  often,  indeed,  lost 
in  the  volatile  sands,  where  no  road  could  be  main- 
tained, but  rising  into  a  broad  and  substantial  cause- 
way as  it  emerged  on  a  firmer  soil.  Such  a  provision 

*3  Pizarro  wished  the  natives  to  understand,  says  Father  Naharro, 
that  their  good  alone,  and  not  the  love  of  gold,  had  led  him  to  their 
distant  land  !  "  Sin  haver  querido  recibir  el  oro,  plata  i  perlas  que  les 
ofrecieron,  d.  fin  de  que  conociesen  no  era  codicia,  sino  deseo  de  su 
bien  el  que  les  habia  traido  de  tan  lejas  tierras  &  las  suyas."  Relacion 
sumaria,  MS. 


DISCOVERIES    ALONG    THE   COAST.          281 

for   internal   communication   was   in    itself    no   slight 
monument  of  power  and  civilization. 

Still  beating  to  the  south,  Pizarro  passed  the  site  of 
the  future  flourishing  city  of  Truxillo,  founded  by  him- 
self some  years  later,  and  pressed  on  till  he  rode  off  the 
port  of  Santa.  It  stood  on  the  .banks  of  a  broad  and 
beautiful  stream ;  but  the  surrounding  country  was  so 
exceedingly  arid  that  it  was  frequently  selected  as  a 
burial-place  by  the  Peruvians,  who  found  the  soil  most 
favorable  for  the  preservation  of  their  mummies.  So 
numerous,  indeed,  were  the  Indian  huacas  that  the 
place  might  rather  be  called  the  abode  of  the  dead 
than  of  the  living.24 

Having  reached  this  point,  about  the  ninth  degree 
of  southern  latitude,  Pizarro's  followers  besought  him 
not  to  prosecute  the  voyage  farther.  Enough  and 
more  than  enough  had  been  done,  they  said,  to  prove 
the  existence  and  actual  position  of  the  great  Indian 
empire  of  which  they  had  so  long  been  in  search. 
Yet,  with  their  slender  force,  they  had  no  power  to 
profit  by  the  discovery.  All  that  remained,  therefore,  . 
was  to  return  and  report  the  success  of  their  enter- 
prise to  the  governor  of  Panama.  Pizarro  acquiesced 
in  the  reasonableness  of  this  demand.  He  had  now 
penetrated  nine  degrees  farther  than  any  former  navi- 
gator in  these  southern  seas,  and,  instead  of  the  blight 

2*  "  Lo  que  mas  me  admiro,  quando  passe  por  este  valle,  fue  ver  la 
muchedumbre  que  tienen  de  sepolturas  :  y  que  por  todas  las  sierras  y 
secadales  en  los  altos  del  valle  ay  numero  grande  de  apartados,  he- 
chos  a  su  usan9a,  todo  cubiertas  de  huessos  de  muertos.  De  manera 
que  lo  que  ay  en  este  valle  mas  que  ver,  es  las  sepolturas  de  los 
muertos,  y  los  campos  que  labraron  siendo  vivos."  Cieza  de  Leon, 
Cronica,  cap.  70. 

24* 


282  DISCOVERY   OF   PERU. 

which,  up  to  this  hour,  had  seemed  to  hang  over  his 
fortunes,  he  could  now  return  in  triumph  to  his  coun- 
trymen. Without  hesitation,  therefore,  he  prepared 
to  retrace  his  course,  and  stood  again  towards  the 
north. 

On  his  way  he  touched  at  several  places  where  he 
had  before  landed.  At  one  of  these,  called  by  the 
Spaniards  Santa  Cruz,  he  had  been  invited  on  shore 
by  an  Indian  woman  of  rank,  and  had  promised  to 
visit  her  on  his  return.  No  sooner  did  his  vessel  cast 
anchor  off  the  village  where  she  lived,  than  she  came 
on  board,  followed  by  a  numerous  train  of  attendants. 
Pizarro  received  her  with  every  mark  of  respect,  and 
on  her  departure  presented  her  with  some  trinkets 
which  had  a  real  value  in  the  eyes  of  an  Indian  prin-  . 
cess.  She  urged  the  Spanish  commander  and  his  com- 
panions to  return  the  visit,  engaging  to  send  a  number 
of  hostages  on  board  as  security  for  their  good  treat- 
ment. Pizarro  assured  her  that  the  frank  confidence 
she  had  shown  towards  them  proved  that  this  was  un- 
necessary. Yet  no  sooner  did  he  put  off  in  his  boat, 
the  following  day,  to  go  on  shore,  than  several  of  the 
principal  persons  in  the  place  came  alongside  of  the 
ship  to  be  received  as  hostages  during  the  absence  of 
the  Spaniards, — a  singular  proof  of  consideration  for 
the  sensitive  apprehensions  of  her  guests. 

Pizarro  found  that  preparations  had  been  made  for 
his  reception  in  a  style  of  simple  hospitality  that 
evinced  some  degree  of  taste.  Arbors  were  formed 
of  luxuriant  and  wide-spreading  branches,  interwoven 
with  fragrant  flowers  and  shrubs  that  diffused  a  de- 
licious perfume  through  the  air.  A  banquet  was  pro- 


RETURN    TO    PANAMA.     .  283 

vided,  teeming  with  viands  prepared  in  the  style  of 
the  Peruvian  cookery,  and  with  fruits  and  vegetables 
of  tempting  hue  and  luscious  to  the  taste,  though  their 
names  and  nature  were  unknown  to  the  Spaniards. 
After  the  collation  was  ended,  the  guests  were  enter- 
tained with  music  and  dancing  by  a  troop  of  young 
men  and  maidens  simply  attired,  who  exhibited  in 
their  favorite  national  amusement  all  the  agility  and 
grace  which  the  supple  limbs  of  the  Peruvian  Indians 
so  well  qualified  them  to  display.  Before  his  depart- 
ure, Pizarro  stated  to  his  kind  host  the  motives  of  his 
visit  to  the  country,  in  the  same  manner  as  he  had 
done  on  other  occasions,  and  he  concluded  by  unfurl- 
ing the  royal  banner  of  Castile,  which  he  had  brought 
on  shore,  requesting  her  and  her  attendants  to  raise  it 
in  token  of  their  allegiance  to  his  sovereign.  This 
they  did  with  great  good  humor,  laughing  all  the 
while,  says  the  chronicler,  and  making  it  clear  that 
they  had  a  very  imperfect  conception  of  the  serious 
nature  of  the  ceremony.  Pizarro  was  contented  with 
this  outward  display  of  loyalty,  and  returned  to  his 
vessel  well  satisfied  with  the  entertainment  he  had  re- 
ceived, and  meditating,  it  may  be,  on  the  best  mode 
of  repaying  it,  hereafter,  by  the  subjugation  and  con- 
version of  the  country. 

The  Spanish  commander  did  not  omit  to  touch  also 
at  Tumbez  on  his  homeward  voyage.  Here  some  of 
his  followers,  won  by  the  comfortable  aspect  of  the 
place  and  the  manners  of  the  people,  intimated  a  wish 
to  remain,  conceiving,  no  doubt,  that  it  would  be  bet- 
ter to  live  where  they  would  be  persons  of  consequence 
than  to  return  to  an  obscure  condition  in  the  com- 


284  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

munity  of  Panama.  One  of  these  men  was  Alonso  de 
Molina,  the  same  who  had  first  gone  on  shore  at  this 
place  and  been  captivated  by  the  charms  of  the  Indian 
beauties.  Pizarro  complied  with  their  wishes,  thinking 
it  would  not  be  amiss  to  find,  on  his  return,  some  of 
his  own  followers  who  would  be  instructed  in  the  lan- 
guage and  usages  of  the  natives.  He  was  also  allowed 
to  carry  back  in  his  vessel  two  or  three  Peruvians,  for 
the  similar  purpose  of  instructing  them  in  the  Castilian. 
One  of  them,  a  youth  named  by  the  Spaniards  Feli- 
pillo,  plays  a  part  of  some  importance  in  the  history 
of  subsequent  events. 

On  leaving  Tumbez,  the  adventurers  steered  directly 
for  Panama,  touching  only,  on  their  way,  at  the  ill- 
fated  island  of  Gorgona,  to  take  on  board  their  two 
companions  who  were  left  there  too  ill  to  proceed  with 
them.  One  had  died;  and,  receiving  the  other,  Pizarro 
and  his  gallant  little  band  continued  their  voyage,  and, 
after  an  absence  of  at  least  eighteen  months,  found 
themselves  once  more  safely  riding  at  anchor  in  the 
harbor  of  Panama.25 

The  sensation  caused  by  their  arrival  was  great,  as 
might  have  been  expected.  For  there  were  few,  even 
among  the  most  sanguine  of  their  friends,  who  did  not 
imagine  that  they  had  long  since  paid  for  their  te- 
merity, and  fallen  victims  to  the  climate  or  the  natives, 
or  miserably  perished  in  a  watery  grave.  Their  joy 
was  proportionably  great,  therefore,  as  they  saw  the 

25  Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS.— Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  afio 
1528. — Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. — Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y 
Conq.,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  4,  lib.  2,  cap.  6,  7. — Rela- 
cion del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


RETURN    TO    PANAMA.  285 

wanderers  now  returned,  not  only  in  health  and  safety, 
but  with  certain  tidings  of  the  fair  countries  which  had 
so  long  eluded  their  grasp.  It  was  a  moment  of  proud 
satisfaction  to  the  three  associates,  who,  in  spite  of 
obloquy,  derision,  and  every  impediment  which  the 
distrust  of  friends  or  the  coldness  of  government  could 
throw  in  their  way,  had  persevered  in  their  great  enter- 
prise until  they  had  established  the  truth  of  what  had 
been  so  generally  denounced  as  a  chimera.  It  is  the 
misfortune  of  those  daring  spirits  who  conceive  an  idea 
too  vast  for  their  own  generation  to  comprehend,  or, 
at  least,  to  attempt  to  carry  out,  that  they  pass  for 
visionary  dreamers.  Such  had  been  the  fate  of  Luque 
and  his  associates.  The  existence  of  a  rich  Indian  em- 
pire at  the  south,  which  in  their  minds,  dwelling  long 
on  the  same  idea  and  alive  to  all  the  arguments  in  its 
favor,  had  risen  to  the  certainty  of  conviction,  had 
been  derided  by  the  rest  of  their  countrymen  as  a  mere 
mirage  of  the  fancy,  which,  on  nearer  approach,  would 
melt  into  air ;  while  the  projectors  who  staked  their 
fortunes  on  the  adventure  were  denounced  as  madmen. 
But  their  hour  of  triumph,  their  slow  and  hard-earned 
triumph,  had  now  arrived. 

Yet  the  governor,  Pedro  de  los  Rios,  did  not  seem, 
even  at  this  moment,  to  be  possessed  with  a  conviction 
of  the  magnitude  of  the  discovery, — or  perhaps  he  was 
discouraged  by  its  very  magnitude.  When  the  associ- 
ates now  with  more  confidence  applied  to  him  for 
patronage  in  an  undertaking  too  vast  for  their  individ- 
ual resources,  he  coldly  replied,  "  He  had  no  desire  to 
build  up  other  states  at  the  expense  of  his  own ;  nor 
would  he  be  led  to  throw  away  more  lives  than  had 


286  DISCOVERY    OF   PERU. 

already  been  sacrificed  by  the  cheap  display  of  gold 
and  silver  toys  and  a  few  Indian  sheep  !"  * 

Sorely  disheartened  by  this  repulse  from  the  only 
quarter  whence  effectual  aid  could  be  expected,  the 
confederates,  without  funds,  and  with  credit  nearly 
exhausted  by  their  past  efforts,  were  perplexed  in  the 
extreme.  Yet  to  stop  now, — what  was  it  but  to  aban- 
don the  rich  mine  which  their  own  industry  and  perse- 
verance had  laid  open,  for  others  to  work  at  pleasure  ? 
In  this  extremity  the  fruitful  mind  of  Luque  suggested 
the  only  expedient  by  which  they  could  hope  for  suc- 
cess. This  was  to  apply  to  the  crown  itself.  No  one 
was  so  much  interested  in  the  result  of  the  expedition. 
It  was  for  the  government,  indeed,  that  discoveries 
were  to  be  made,  that  the  country  was  to  be  conquered. 
The  government  alone  was  competent  to  provide  the 
requisite  means,  and  was  likely  to  take  a  much  broader 
and  more  liberal  view  of  the  matter  than  a  petty  colo- 
nial officer. 

But  who  was  there  qualified  to  take  charge  of  this 
delicate  mission?  Luque  was  chained  by  his  profes- 
sional duties  to  Panama ;  and  his  associates,  unlettered 
soldiers,  were  much  better  fitted  for  the  business  of 
the  camp  than  of  the  court.  Almagro,  blunt,  though 
somewhat  swelling  and  ostentatious  in  his  address,  with 
a  diminutive  stature  and  a  countenance  naturally  plain, 
now  much  disfigured  by  the  loss  of  an  eye,  was  not  so 
well  qualified  for  the  mission  as  his  companion  in  arms, 
36  "  No  entendia  de  despoblar  su  Governacion,  para  que  se  fuesen 
ii  poblar  nuevas  Tierras,  muriendo  en  tal  demanda  mas  Gente  de  la 
que  havia  muerto,  cebando  k  los  Hombres  con  la  muestra  de  las 
Ovejas,  Oro,  i  Plata,  que  havian  traido."  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec. 
4.  lib.  3,  cap.  i. 


RETURN    TO    PANAMA.  287 

who,  possessing  a  good  person  and  altogether  a  com- 
manding presence,  was  plausible,  and,  with  all  his  de- 
fects of  education,  could,  where  deeply  interested,  be 
even  eloquent  in  discourse.  The  ecclesiastic,  however, 
suggested  that  the  negotiation  should  be  committed  to 
the  Licentiate  Corral,  a  respectable  functionary,  then 
about  to  return  on  some  public  business  to  the  mother- 
country.  But  to  this  Almagro  strongly  objected.  No 
one,  he  said,  could  conduct  the  affair  so  well  as  the 
party  interested  in  it.  He  had  a  high  opinion  of 
Pizarro's  prudence,  his  discernment  of  character,  and 
his  cool,  deliberate  policy.27  He  knew  enough  of  his 
comrade  to  have  confidence  that  his  presence  of  mind 
would  not  desert  him  even  in  the  new,  and  therefore 
embarrassing,  circumstances  in  which  he  would  be 
placed  at  court.  No  one,  he  said,  could  tell  the  story 
of  their  adventures  with  such  effect  as  the  man  who 
had  been  the  chief  actor  in  them.  No  one  could  so 
well  paint  the  unparalleled  sufferings  and  sacrifices 
which  they  had  encountered ;  no  other  could  tell  so 
forcibly  what  had  been  done,  what  yet  remained  to 
do,  and  what  assistance  would  be  necessary  to  carry 
it  into  execution.  He  concluded,  with  characteristic 
frankness,  by  strongly  urging  his  confederate  to  under- 
take the  mission. 

Pizarro  felt  the  force  of  Almagro's  reasoning,  and, 
though  with  undisguised  reluctance,  acquiesced  in  a 
measure  which  was  less  to  his  taste  than  an  expedition 
to  the  wilderness.  But  Luque  came  into  the  arrange- 

"7  "  fe  por  pura  importunacion  de  Almagro  cupole  &  Pizarro,  porque 
siempre  Almagro  le  tubo  respeto,  e  deseo  honrarle."  Oviedo,  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  i. 


288  DISCOVER  Y    OF   PERU. 

ment  with  more  difficulty.  "God  grant,  my  chil- 
dren," exclaimed  the  ecclesiastic,  "that  one  of  you 
may  not  defraud  the  other  of  his  blessing  !"  *  Pizarro 
engaged  to  consult  the  interests  of  his  associates  equally 
with  his  own.  But  Luque,  it  is  clear,  did  not  trust 
Pizarro. 

There  was  some  difficulty  in  raising  the  funds  neces- 
sary for  putting  the  envoy  in  condition  to  make  a 
suitable  appearance  at  court ;  so  low  had  the  credit 
of  the  confederates  fallen,  and  so  little  confidence  was 
yet  placed  in  the  result  of  their  splendid  discoveries. 
Fifteen  hundred  ducats  were  at  length  raised ;  and 
Pizarro,  in  the  spring  of  1528,  bade  adieu  to  Panama, 
accompanied  by  Pedro  de  Candia.29  He  took  with 
him,  also,  some  of  the  natives,  as  well  as  two  or  three 
llamas,  various  nice  fabrics  of  cloth,  with  many  orna- 
ments and  vases  of  gold  and  silver,  as  specimens  of 
the  civilization  of  the  country,  and  vouchers  for  his 
wonderful  story. 

38  "  Plegue  a  Dios,  Hijos,  que  no  os  hurteis  la  bendicion  el  uno  al 
otro  que  yo  todavia  holgaria,  que  a  lo  menos  fuerades  entrambos." 
Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  4,  lib.  3,  cap.  i. 

"9  "  [untaronle  mil  y  quinientos  pesos  de  oro,  que  dio  de  buena 
voluntad  Dn  Fernando  de  Luque."  Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano 
1528. 


Of  all  the  writers  on  ancient  Peruvian  history,  no  one  has  acquired 
so  wide  celebrity,  or  been  so  largely  referred  to  by  later  compilers,  as 
the  Inca  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega.  He  was  born  in  Cuzco,  in  1540,  and 
was  a  mestizo,  that  is,  of  mixed  descent,  his  father  being  European 
and  his  mother  Indian.  His  father,  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  was  one 
of  that  illustrious  family  whose  achievements,  both  in  arms  and  letters, 
shed  such  lustre  over  the  proudest  period  of  the  Castilian  annals.  He 
came  to  Peru,  in  the  suite  of  Pedro  de  Alvarado,  soon  after  the  country 


GARCILASSO    DE    LA    VEGA.  289 

hud  been  gained  by  Pizarro.  Garcilasso  attached  himself  to  the  for- 
tunes of  this  chief,  and,  after  his  death,  to  those  of  his  brother  Gon- 
zalo, — remaining  constant  to  the  latter,  through  his  rebellion,  up  to 
the  hour  of  his  rout  at  Xaquixaguana,  when  Garcilasso  took  the  same 
course  with  most  of  his  faction,  and  passed  over  to  the  enemy.  But 
this  demonstration  of  loyalty,  though  it  saved  his  life,  was  too  late  to 
redeem  his  credit  with  the  victorious  party  ;  and  the  obloquy  which 
he  incurred  by  his  share  in  the  rebellion  threw  a  cloud  over  his  sub- 
sequent fortunes,  and  even  over  those  of  his  son,  as  it  appears,  in 
after-years. 

The  historian's  mother  was  of  the  Peruvian  blood  royal.  She  was 
niece  of  Huayna  Capac,  and  granddaughter  of  the  renowned  Tupac 
Inca  Yupanqui.  Garcilasso,  while  he  betrays  obvious  satisfaction  that 
the  blood  of  the  civilized  European  flows  in  his  veins,  shows  himself 
not  a  little  proud  of  his  descent  from  the  royal  dynasty  of  Peru ;  and 
this  he  intimated  by  combining  with  his  patronymic  the  distinguishing 
title  of  the  Peruvian  princes,— subscribing  himself  always  Garcilasso 
Inca  de  la  Vega. 

His  early  years  were  passed  in  his  native  land, where  he  was  reared 
in  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  and  received  the  benefit  of  as  good  an 
education  as  could  be  obtained  amidst  the  incessant  din  of  arms  and 
civil  commotion.  In  1560,  when  twenty  years  of  age,  he  left  America, 
and  from  that  time  took  up  his  residence  in  Spain.  Here  he  entered 
the  military  service,  and  held  a  captain's  commission  in  the  war  against 
the  Moriscos,  and,  afterwards,  under  Don  John  of  Austria.  Though 
he  acquitted  himself  honorably  in  his  adventurous  career,  he  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  satisfied  with  the  manner  in  which  his  services  were 
requited  by  the  government.  The  old  reproach  of  the  father's  dis- 
loyally still  clung  to  the  son,  and  Garcilasso  assures  us  that  this  cir- 
cumstance defeated  all  his  efforts  to  recover  the  large  inheritance  of 
landed  property  belonging  to  his  mother,  which  had  escheated  to  the 
crown.  "  Such  were  the  prejudices  against  me,"  says  he,  "  that  I 
could  not  urge  my  ancient  claims  or  expectations  ;  and  I  left  the  army 
so  poor  and  so  much  in  debt  that  I  did  not  care  to  show  myself  again 
:tt  court,  but  was  obliged  to  withdraw  into  an  obscure  solitude,  where 
I  lead  a  tranquil  life  for  the  brief  space  that  remains  to  me,  no  longer 
deluded  by  the  world  or  its  vanities." 

The  scene  of  this  obscure  retreat  was  not,  however,  as  the  reader 
might  imagine  from  this  tone  of  philosophic  resignation. in  the  depths 
of  some  rural  wilderness,  but  in  Cordova,  once  the  gay  capital  of  Mos- 
Peru.— VOL.  I. — N  25 


290  GAKCILASSO    DE    I. A    VEGA. 

lem  science,  and  still  the  busy  haunt  of  men.  Here  our  philosopher 
occupied  himself  with  literary  labors,  the  more  sweet  and  soothing  to 
his  wounded  spirit  that  they  tended  to  illustrate  the  faded  glories  of 
his  native  land  and  exhibit  them  in  their  primitive  splendor  to  the  eyes 
of  his  adopted  countrymen.  "  And  I  have  no  reason  to  regret,"  he 
says  in  his  Preface  to  his  account  of  Florida,  "  that  Fortune  has  not 
smiled  on  me,  since  this  circumstance  has  opened  a  literary  career 
which,  I  trust,  will  secure  to  me  a  wider  and  more  enduring  fame  than 
could  flow  from  any  worldly  prosperity." 

In  1609  he  gave  to  the  world  the  First  part  of  his  great  work,  the 
Commentaries  Reales,  devoted  to  the  history  of  the  country  under  the 
Incas ;  and  in  1616,  a  few  months  before  his  death,  he  finished  the 
Second  Part,  embracing  the  story  of  the  Conquest,  which  was  pub- 
lished at  Cordova  the  following  year.  The  chronicler,  who  thus  closed 
his  labors  with  his  life,  died  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  seventy-six.  He 
left  a  considerable  sum  for  the  purchase  of  masses  for  his  soul,  show- 
ing that  the  complaints  of  his  poverty  are  not  to  be  taken  literally. 
His  remains  were  interred  in  the  cathedral  church  of  Cordova,  in  a 
chapel  which  bears  the  name  of  Garcilasso ;  and  an  inscription  was 
placed  on  his  monument,  intimating  the  high  respect  in  which  the  his- 
torian was  held  both  for  his  moral  worth  and  his  literary  attainments. 

The  First  Part  of  the  Commentaries  Reales  is  occupied,  as  already 
noticed,  with  the  ancient  history  of  the  country,  presenting  a  complete 
picture  of  its  civiliEation  under  the  Incas, — far  more  complete  than 
has  been  given  by  any  other  writer.  Garcilasso's  mother  was  but  ten 
years  old  at  the  time  of  her  cousin  Atahuallpa's  accession,  or  rather 
usurpation,  as  it  is  called  by  the  party  of  Cuzco.  She  had  the  good 
fortune  to  escape  the  massacre  which,  according  to  the  chronicler, 
befell  most  of  her  kindred,  and,  with  her  brother,  continued  to  reside 
in  their  ancient  capital  after  the  Conquest.  Their  conversations  natu- 
rally turned  to  the  good  old  times  of  the  Inca  rule,  which,  colored 
by  their  fond  regrets,  may  be  presumed  to  have  lost  nothing  as  seen 
through  the  magnifying  medium  of  the  past.  The  young  Garcilasso 
listened  greedily  to  the  stories  which  recounted  the  magnificence  and 
prowess  of  his  royal  ancestors,  and,  though  he  made  no  use  of  them 
at  the  time,  they  sank  deep  into  his  memory,  to  be  treasured  up  fora 
future  occasion.  When  he  prepared,  after  the  lapse  of  many  years, 
in  his  retirement  at  Cordova,  to  compose  the  history  of  his  country, 
he  wrote  to  his  old  companions  and  schoolfellows  of  the  Inca  family, 
to  obtain  fuller  information  than  he  couldget  in  Spain  on  various  mat- 


GARCILASSO    DE    LA    VEGA.  291 

ters  of  historical  interest.  He  had  witnessed  in  his  youth  the  ancient 
ceremonies  and  usages  of  his  countrymen,  understood  the  science  of 
their  quipus,  and  mastered  many  of  their  primitive  traditions.  With  the 
assistance  he  now  obtained  from  his  Peruvian  kindred,  he  acquired  a 
familiarity  with  the  history  of  the  great  Inca  race,  and  of  their  national 
institutions,  to  an  extent  that  no  person  could  have  possessed  unless 
educated  in  the  midst  of  them,  speaking  the  same  language,  and  with 
the  same  Indian  blood  flowing  in  his  veins.  Garcilasso,  in  short,  was 
the  representative  of  the  conquered  race  ;  and  we  might  expect  to  find 
the  lights  and  shadows  of  the  picture  disposed  under  his  pencil  so  as 
to  produce  an  effect  very  different  from  that  which  they  had  hitherto 
exhibited  under  the  hands  of  the  Conquerors. 

Such,  to  a  certain  extent,  is  the  fact ;  and  this  circumstance  affords 
a  means  of  comparison  which  alone  would  render  his  works  of  great 
value  in  arriving  at  just  historic  conclusions.  But  Garcilasso  wrote  late 
in  life,  after  the  story  had  been  often  told  by  Castilian  writers.  He 
naturally  deferred  much  to  men,  some  of  whom  enjoyed  high  credit 
on  the  score  both  of  their  scholarship  and  their  social  position.  His 
object,  he  professes,  was  not  so  much  to  add  any  thing  new  of  his  own, 
as  to  correct  their  errors  and  the  misconceptions  into  which  they  had 
been  brought  by  their  ignorance  of  the  Indian  languages  and  the  usages 
of  his  people.  He  does,  in  fact,  however,  go  far  beyond  this  ;  and  the 
stores  of  information  which  he  has  collected  have  made  his  work  a 
large  repository,  whence  later  laborers  in  the  same  field  have  drawn 
copious  materials.  He  writes  from  the  fulness  of  his  heart,  and  illu- 
minates every  topic  that  he  touches  with  a  variety  and  richness  of  illus- 
tration that  leave  little  to  be  desired  by  the  most  importunate  curiosity. 
The  difference  between  reading  his  commentaries  and  the  accounts  of 
European  writers  is  the  difference  that  exists  between  reading  a  work 
in  the  original  and  in  a  bald  translation.  Garcilasso's  writings  are  an 
emanation  from  the  Indian  mind'. 

Yet  his  Commentaries  are  open  to  a  grave  objection, — and  one  natu- 
rally suggested  by  his  position.  Addressing  himself  to  the  cultivated 
European,  he  was  most  desirous  to  display  the  ancient  glories  of  his 
people,  and  still  more  of  the  Inca  race,  in  their  most  imposing  form. 
This,  doubtless,  was  the  great  spur  to  his  literary  labors,  for  which  pre- 
vious education,  however  good  for  the  evil  time  on  which  he  was  cast, 
had  far  from  qualified  him.  Garcilasso,  therefore,  wrote  to  effect  a  par- 
ticular object.  He  stood  forth  as  counsel  for  his  unfortunate  country- 
men, pleading  the  cause  of  that  degraded  race  before  the  tribunal  of 


292  GARCILASSO    DE    LA    Vl:(,A. 

posterity.  The  exaggerated  tone  of  panegyric  consequent  on  this  be- 
comes apparent  in  every  page  of  his  work.  He  pictures  forth  a  state  of 
society  such  as  an  Utopian  philosopher  would  hardly  venture  to  depict. 
His  royal  ancestors  became  the  types  of  every  imaginary  excellence, 
and  the  golden  age  is  revived  for  a  nation  which,  while  the  war  of 
proselytism  is  raging  on  its  borders,  enjoys  within  all  the  blessings  of 
tranquillity  and  peace.  Even  the  material  splendors  of  the  monarchy, 
sufficiently  great  in  this  land  of  gold,  become  heightened,  under  the 
glowing  imagination  of  the  Inca  chronicler,  into  the  gorgeous  illusions 
of  a  fairy-tale. 

Yet  there  is  truth  at  the  bottom  of  his  wildest  conceptions,  and  it 
would  be  unfair  to  the  Indian  historian  to  suppose  that  he  did  not  him- 
self believe  most  of  the  magic  marvels  which  he  describes.  There  is 
no  credulity  like  that  of  a  Christian  convert, — one  newly  converted  to 
the  faith.  From  long  dwelling  in  the  darkness  of  paganism,  his  eyes, 
when  first  opened  to  the  light  of  truth,  have  not  acquired  the  power 
of  discriminating  the  just  proportions  of  objects,  of  distinguishing 
between  the  real  and  the  imaginary.  Garcilasso  was  not  a  convert, 
indeed,  for  he  was  bred  from  infancy  in  tbe  Roman  Catholic  faith. 
But  he  was  surrounded  by  converts  and  neophytes, — by  those  of  his 
own  blood,  who,  after  practising  all  their  lives  the  rites  of  paganism, 
were  now  first  admitted  into  the  Christian  fold.  He  listened  to  the 
teachings  of  the  missionary,  learned  from  him  to  give  implicit  credit 
to  the  marvellous  legends  of  the  Saints,  and  the  no  less  marvellous 
accounts  of  his  own  victories  in  his  spiritual  warfare  for  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  faith.  Thus  early  accustomed  to  such  large  drafts  on  his 
credulity,  his  reason  lost  its  heavenly  power  of  distinguishing  truth 
from  error,  and  he  became  so  familiar  with  the  miraculous  that  the 
miraculous  was  no  longer  a  miracle. 

Yet,  while  large  deductions  are  to  be  made  on  this  account  from  the 
chronicler's  reports,  there  is  always  a  germ  of  truth  which  it  is  not 
difficult  to  detect,  and  even  to  disengage  from  the  fanciful  covering 
which  envelops  it ;  and,  after  every  allowance  for  the  exaggerations 
of  national  vanity,  we  shall  find  an  abundance  of  genuine  information 
in  respect  to  the  antiquities  of  his  country,  for  which  we  shall  look  in 
vain  in  any  European  writer. 

Garcilasso's  work  is  the  reflection  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  It 
is  addressed  to  the  imagination,  more  than  to  sober  reason.  We  are 
dazzled  by  the  gorgeous  spectacle  it  perpetually  exhibits,  and  delighted 
by  the  variety  of  amusing  details  and  animated  gossip  sprinkled  over 


GARCILASSO    DE    LA    VEGA. 


293 


its  pages.  The  story  of  the  action  is  perpetually  varied  by  discussions 
on  topics  illustrating  its  progress,  so  as  to  break  up  the  monotony  of 
the  narrative  and  afford  an  agreeable  relief  to  the  reader.  This  is  true 
of  the  First  Part  of  his  great  work.  In  the  Second  there  was  no  longer 
room  for  such  discussion.  But  he  has  supplied  the  place  by  garrulous 
reminiscences,  personal  anecdotes,  incidental  adventures,  and  a  host 
of  trivial  details, — trivial  in  the  eyes  of  the  pedant, — which  historians 
have  been  too  willing  to  discard,  as  below  the  dignity  of  history.  We 
have  the  actors  in  this  great  drama  in  their  private  dress,  become  ac- 
quainted with  their  personal  habits,  listen  to  their  familiar  sayings,  and, 
in  short,  gather  up  those  minutiae  which  in  the  aggregate  make  up  so 
much  of  life,  and  not  less  of  character. 

It  is  this  confusion  of  the  great  and  the  little,  thus  artlessly  blended 
together,  that  constitutes  one  of  the  charms  of  the  old  romantic  chron- 
icle,— not  the  less  true  that,  in  this  respect,  it  approaches  nearer  to  the 
usual  tone  of  romance.  It  is  in  such'  writings  that  we  may  look  to  find 
the  form  and  pressure  of  the  age.  The  worm-eaten  state  papers,  official 
correspondence,  public  records,  are  all  serviceable,  indispensable,  to 
history.  They  are  the  framework  on  which  it  is  to  repose ;  the  skele- 
ton of  facts  which  gives  it  its  strength  and  proportions.  But  they  are 
as  worthless  as  the  dry  bones  of  the  skeleton,  unless  clothed  with  the 
beautiful  form  and  garb  of  humanity  and  instmct  with  the  spirit  of  the 
age.  Our  debt  is  large  to  the  antiquarian,  who  with  conscientious 
precision  lays  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  historic  truth ;  and 
no  less  to  the  philosophic  annalist,  who  exhibits  man  in  the  dress  of 
public  life, — man  in  masquerade  ;  but  our  gratitude  must  surely  not 
be  withheld  from  those  who,  like  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  and  many  a 
romancer  of  the  Middle  Ages,  have  held  up  the  mirror — distorted 
though  it  may  somewhat  be — to  the  interior  of  life,  reflecting  every 
object,  the  great  and  the  mean,  the  beautiful  and  the  deformed,  with 
their  natural  prominence  and  their  vivacity  of  coloring  to  the  eye  of 
the  spectator.  As  a  work  of  art,  such  a  production  may  be  thought 
to  be  below  criticism.  But,  although  it  defy  the  rules  of  art  in  its 
composition,  it  does  not  necessarily  violate  the  principles  of  taste  ;  for 
it  conforms  in  its  spirit  to  the  spirit  of  the  age  in  which  it  was  written. 
And  the  critic,  who  coldly  condemns  it  on  the  severe  principles  of  art, 
will  find  a  charm  in  its  very  simplicity,  that  will  make  him  recur  again 
and  again  to  its  pages,  while  more  correct  and  classical  compositions 
are  laid  aside  and  forgotten. 

I  cannot  dismiss  this  notice  of  Garcilasso,  though  already  long  pro- 
25* 


294  GARCILASSO   DE    LA    VEGA. 

traded,  without  some  allusion  to  the  English  translation  of  his  Com- 
mentaries. It  appeared  in  James  the  Second's  reign,  and  is  the  work 
of  Sir  Paul  Rycaut,  Knight.  It  was  printed  at  London  in  1688,  in 
folio,  with  considerable  pretension  in  its  outward  dress,  well  garnished 
with  wood-cuts,  and  a  frontispiece  displaying  the  gaunt  and  rather 
sardonic  features,  not  of  the  author,  but  his  translator.  The  version 
keeps  pace  with  the  march  of  the  original,  corresponding  precisely  in 
books  and  chapters,  and  seldom,  though  sometimes,  using  the  freedom, 
so  common  in  these  ancient  versions,  of  abridgment  and  omission. 
Where  it  does  depart  from  the  original,  it  is  rather  from  ignorance 
than  intention.  Indeed,  so  far  as  the  plea  of  ignorance  will  avail 
him,  the  worthy  knight  may  urge  it  stoutly  in  his  defence.  No  one 
who  reads  the  book  will  doubt  his  limited  acquaintance  with  his  own 
tongue,  and  no  one  who  compares  it  with  the  original  will  deny  his 
ignorance  of  the  Castilian.  It  %con tains  as  many  blunders  as  para- 
graphs, and  most  of  them  such  as  might  shame  a  schoolboy.  Yet 
such  are  the  rude  charms  of  the  original,  that  this  ruder  version  of 
it  has  found  considerable  favor  with  readers;  and  Sir  Paul  Rycaut's 
translation,  old  as  it  is,  may  still  be  met  with  in  many  a  private,  as 
well  as  public,  library. 


BOOK  THIRD. 

CONQUEST  OF  PERU. 


(295) 


BOOK  III. 

CONQUEST  OF   PERU. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PIZARRO'S     RECEPTION    AT    COURT. — HIS    CAPITULATION 

WITH     THE    CROWN. HE    VISITS    HIS    BIRTHPLACE. 

RETURNS  TO  THE  NEW  WORLD. — DIFFICULTIES  WITH 
ALMAGRO. — HIS  THIRD  EXPEDITION.— ADVENTURES  ON 
THE  COAST. — BATTLES  IN  THE  ISLE  OF  PUNA. 

I528-I53I. 

PIZARRO  and  his  officer,  having  crossed  the  Isthmus, 
embarked  at  Nombre  de  Dios  for  the  old  country,  and, 
after  a  good  passage,  reached  Seville  early  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1528.  There  happened  to  be  at  that  time  in 
port  a  person  well  known  in  the  history  of  Spanish 
adventure  as  the  Bachelor  Enciso.  He  had  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  colonization  of  Tierra  Firme,  and 
had  a  pecuniary  claim  against  the  early  colonists  of 
Darien,  of  whom  Pizarro  was  one.  Immediately  on 
the  landing  of  the  latter,  he  was  seized  by  Enciso's 
orders  and  held  in  custody  for  the  debt.  Pizarro, 
who  had  fled  from  his  native  land  as  a  forlorn  and 
houseless  adventurer,  after  an  absence  of  more  than 
twenty  years,  passed,  most  of  them,  in  unprecedented 
toil  and  suffering,  now  found  himself  on  his  return 
N*  (297) 


298  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

the  inmate  of  a  prison.  Such  was  the  commence- 
ment of  those  brilliant  fortunes  which,  as  he  had 
trusted,  awaited  him  at  home.  The  circumstance 
excited  general  indignation  ;  and  no  sooner  was  the 
court  advised  of  his  arrival  in  the  country,  and  the 
great  purpose  of  his  mission,  than  orders  were  sent 
for  his  release,  with  permission  to  proceed  at  once  on 
his  journey. 

Pizarro  found  the  emperor  at  Toledo,  which  he  was 
soon  to  quit,  in  order  to  embark  for  Italy.  Spain 
was  not  the  favorite  residence  of  Charles  the  Fifth  in 
the  earlier  part  of  his  reign.  He  was  now  at  that 
period  of  it  when  he  was  enjoying  the  full  flush  of 
his  triumphs  over  his  gallant  rival  of  France,  whom 
he  had  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  at  the  great  bat- 
tle of  Pavia ;  and  the  victor  was  at  this  moment  pre- 
paring to  pass  into  Italy  to  receive  the  imperial  crown 
from  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Pontiff.  Elated  by  his 
successes  and  his  elevation  to  the  German  throne, 
Charles  made  little  account  of  his  hereditary  king- 
dom, as  his  ambition  found  so  splendid  a  career 
thrown  open  to  it  on  the  wide  field  of  European  pol- 
itics. He  had  hitherto  received  too  inconsiderable 
returns  from  his  transatlantic  possessions  to  give  them 
the  attention  they  deserved.  But,  as  the  recent  ac- 
quisition of  Mexico  and  the  brilliant  anticipations  in 
respect  to  the  southern  continent  were  pressed  upon 
his  notice,  he  felt  their  importance  as  likely  to  afford 
him  the  means  of  prosecuting  his  ambitious  and  most 
expensive  enterprises. 

Pizarro,  therefore,  who  had  now  come  to  satisfy  the 
royal  eyes,  by  visible  proofs,  of  the  truth  of  the  golden 


PIZARRO' S   RECEPTION  AT  COURT. 


299 


rumors  which  from  time  to  time  had  reached  Castile, 
was  graciously  received  by  the  emperor.  Charles  ex- 
amined the  various  objects  which  his  officer  exhibited 
to  him  with  great  attention.  He  was  particularly  in- 
terested by  the  appearance  of  the  llama,  so  remarkable 
as  the  only  beast  of  burden  yet  known  on  the  new 
continent ;  and  the  fine  fabrics  of  woollen  cloth  which 
were  made  from  its  shaggy  sides  gave  it  a  much  higher 
value,  in  the  eyes  of  the  sagacious  monarch,  than  what 
it  possessed  as  an  animal  for  domestic  labor.  But  the 
specimens  of  gold  and  silver  manufacture,  and  the 
wonderful  tale  which  Pizarro  had  to  tell  of  the  abun- 
dance of  the  precious  metals,  must  have  satisfied  even 
the  cravings  of  royal  cupidity. 

Pizarro,  far  from  being  embarrassed  by  the  novelty 
of  his  situation,  maintained  his  usual  self-possession, 
and  showed  that  decorum  and  even  dignity  in  his  ad- 
dress which  belong  to  the  Castilian.  He  spoke  in  a 
simple  and  respectful  style,  but  with  the  earnestness 
and  natural  eloquence  of  one  who  had  been  an  actor 
in  the  scenes  he  described,  and  who  was  conscious 
that  the  impression  he  made  on  his  audience  was  to 
decide  his  future  destiny.  All  listened  with  eagerness 
to  the  account  of  his  strange  adventures  by  sea  and 
land,  his  wanderings  in  the  forests,  or  in  the  dismal 
and  pestilent  swamps  on  the  sea-coast,  without  food, 
almost  without  raiment,  with  feet  torn  and  bleeding 
at  every  step,  with  his  few  companions  becoming  still 
fewer  by  disease  and  death,  and  yet  pressing  on  with 
unconquerable  spirit  to  extend  the  empire  of  Castile 
and  the  name  and  power  of  her  sovereign;  but 
when  he  painted  his  lonely  condition  on  the  deso- 


300  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

late  island,  abandoned  by  the  government  at  home, 
deserted  by  all  but  a  handful  of  devoted  followers,  his 
royal  auditor,  though  not  easily  moved,  was  affected 
to  tears.  On  his  departure  from  Toledo,  Charles 
commended  the  affairs  of  his  vassal  in  the  most  favor- 
able terms  to  the  consideration  of  the  Council  of  the 
Indies.1 

There  was  at  this  time  another  man  at  court,  who 
had  come  there  on  a  similar  errand  from  the  New 
World,  but  whose  splendid  achievements  had  already 
won  for  him  a  name  that  threw  the  rising  reputation 
of  Pizarro  comparatively  into  the  shade.  This  man 
was  Hernando  Cortes,  the  Conqueror  of  Mexico.  He 
had  come  home  to  lay  an  empire  at  the  feet  of  his 
sovereign,  and  to  demand  in  return  the  redress  of  his 
wrongs  and  the  recompense  of  his  great  services.  He 
was  at  the  close  of  his  career,  as  Pizarro  was  at  the  com- 
mencement of  his ;  the  Conqueror  of  the  North  and 
of  the  South ;  the  two  men  appointed  by  Providence 
to  overturn  the  most  potent  of  the  Indian  dynasties, 
and  to  open  the  golden  gates  by  which  the  treasures 
of  the  New  World  were  to  pass  into  the  coffers  of 
Spain. 

Notwithstanding  the  emperor's  recommendation,  the 
business  of  Pizarro  went  forward  at  the  tardy  pace 
with  which  affairs  are  usually  conducted  in  the  court 

1  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria, 
MS.— Conq.  i  Pob.  del  Piru,  MS.—"  Hablaba  tan  bien  en  la  materia, 
que  se  llevo  los  aplausos  y  atencion  en  Toledo  donde  el  Emperador 
estaba,  diole  audiencia  con  mucho  gusto,  tratolo  amoroso,  y  oyole 
tierno,  especialmente  cuando  le  hizo  relacion  de  su  consistencia  y  de 
los  trece  companeros  en  la  Isla  en  medio  de  tantos  trabajos."  Monte- 
sinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1528. 


HIS  CAPITULATION  WITH   THE   CROIVX. 


3OI 


of  Castile.  He  found  his  limited  means  gradually 
sinking  under  the  expenses  incurred  by  his  present 
situation,  and  he  represented  that  unless  some  meas- 
ures were  speedily  taken  in  reference  to  his  suit,  how- 
ever favorable  they  might  be  in  the  end,  he  should  be 
in  no  condition  to  profit  by  them.  The  queen,  ac- 
cordingly, who  had  charge  of  the  business,  on  her 
husband's  departure,  expedited  the  affair,  and  on  the 
twenty-sixth  of  July,  1529,  she  executed  the  memor- 
able Capitulation  which  defined  the  powers  and  privi- 
leges of  Pizarro.* 

The  instrument  secured  to  that  chief  the  right  of 
discovery  and  conquest  in  the  province__of  Peru,  or 
New  Castile, — as  the  country  was  then  called,  in  the 
same  manner  as  Mexico  had  received  the  name  of 
New  Spain, — for  the  distance  of  two  hundred  leagues 
south  of  Santiago.  He  was  to  receive  the  titles  and 
rank  of  Governor  and  Captain-General  of  the  prov- 
ince, together  with  those  of  Adelantado  and  Alguacil 
Mayor,  for  life ;  and  he  was  to  have  a  salary  of  seven 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  maravedis,  with  the 
obligation  of  maintaining  certain  officers  and  military 
retainers,  corresponding  with  the  dignity  of  his  station. 
He  was  to  have  the  right  to  erect  certain  fortresses, 
I  with  the  absolute  government  of  them ;  to  assign  en- 
comiendas  of  Indians,  under  the  limitations  prescribed 


*  [There  seems  to  be  in  this  sentence  a  confusion  of  two  distinct 
personages.  On  leaving  Spain  in  1529,  Charles  intrusted  the  govern- 
ment to  his  wife,  the  Empress  Isabella,  who  therefore  "  had  charge  of 
the  business"  referred  to,  and  may  have  "  expedited  the  affair."  But 
"  the  queen"  in  whose  name  the  agreement  with  Pizarro  was  "  exe- 
cuted" was  the  unfortunate  Juana,  Charles's  mother.— ED.] 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  26 


302  COXQUEST    OF  V/.'AT. 

by  law ;  and,  in  fine,  to  exercise  nearly  all  the  pre- 
rogatives incident  to  the  authority  of  a  viceroy. 

His  associate,  Almagro,  was  declared  commander  of 
the  fortress  of  Tumbez,  with  an  annual  rent  of  three 
hundred  thousand  maravedis,  and  with  the  further 
rank  and  privileges  of  an  hidalgo.  The  reverend 
Father  Luque  received  the  reward  of  his  services  in 
the  bishopric  of  Tumbez,  and  he  was  also  declared 
Protector  of  the  Indians  of  Peru.  He  was  to  enjoy  the 
yearly  stipend  of  a  thousand  ducats, — to  be  derived, 
like  the  other  salaries  and  gratuities  in  this  instrument, 
from  the  revenues  of  the  conquered  territory. 

Nor  were  the  subordinate  actors  in  the  expedition 
forgotten.  Ruiz  received  the  title  of  Grand  Pilot  of 
the  Southern  Ocean,  with  a  liberal  provision  ;  Candia 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  artillery  ;  and  the  re- 
maining eleven  companions  on  the  desolate  island 
were  created  hidalgos  and  cavalleros,  and  raised  to 
certain  municipal  dignities, — in  prospect.* 


*  [Mr.  Markham,  after  quoting  this  clause  of  the  instrument,  which 
contains  the  list  of  names  before  cited  as  those  of  the  men  who  elected 
to  remain  with  Pizarro  at  the  island  of  Gallo,  instead  of  returning  to 
Panama  (p.  261,  note  3),  observes,  "  It  has  always  been  supposed 
that  these  were  the  men  who  crossed  the  line,  and  hence  their  number 
has  been  placed  at  thirteen.  But  it  is  not  asserted  in  the  Capitulation 
that  the  men  whose  names  are  given  in  it  were  those  who  crossed  the 
line,  and  it  might  be  that  Pizarro,  in  asking  favors  for  his  most  faithful 
companions,  on  the  one  hand  omitted  one  or  more  of  those  who 
crossed  the  line,  and  on  the  other  included  some  who  did  not  take 
part  in  that  transaction,  but  who  joined  him  afterwards."  Proceeding 
on  this  supposition,  he  rejects  the  accounts  of  Ciezade  Leon,  Gomara. 
Herrera,  and  Garcilasso,  who  all  concur  in  fixing  the  number  of  those 
who  remained  at  Gallo  at  thirteen,  and  accepts  instead  the  statement 
of  Francisco  de  Xerez,  afterwards  secretary  of  Pizarro,  who,  in  a 


HIS  CAPI  I'l'LAI'IUX    \V1T11    TIf£   CKOW.V. 


3°3 


Several  provisions  of  a  liberal  tenor  were  also  made, 
to  encourage  emigration  to  the  country.  The  new 

brief  mention  of  the  affair,  gives  the  number  at  sixteen.  ( Reports  on 
the  Discovery  of  Peru,  p.  8,  note.)  But  had  Mr.  Markham  been  at 
the  pains  to  read  the  whole  of  the  document  on  whose  assumed  si- 
lence in  regard  to  the  point  in  question  his  argument  is  chiefly  based, 
he  would  probably  have  refrained  from  contradicting  the  general 
mass  of  contemporary  authorities,  as  well  as  the  modern  writers  who 
have  conformed  to  them.  The  preamble  to  the  Capitulation,  reciting 
the  services  and  enterprises  for  which  Pizarro  and  his  companions 
were  to  be  rewarded,  says  expressly  that  on  account  of  the  dangers  and 
toils  of  the  voyage  he  was  deserted  on  an  uninhabited  island  by  all  the 
people  that  had  gone  with  him,  except  thirteen  alone,  who  chose  to 
remain  with  him.  ("  Donde  pasastes  muchos  peligros  e  trabajo,  a 
causa  de  lo  cual  os  dejo  toda  la  gente  que  con  vos  iba  en  una  isla  des- 
poblada  con  solos  trece  hombres  que  no  vosquisieron  dejar.")  This 
settles  the  number  of  the  faithful  few  on  the  authority  of  Pizarro  him- 
self, and  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  subsequent  clause,  enumerating 
their  names,  mentions  only  in  a  general  way  "  the  great  service  they 
had  rendered  in  the  said  voyage  and  discovery." 

It  should  perhaps  be  mentioned  that  Sir  Arthur  Helps  makes  the 
number  fourteen,  without  citing  his  authority,  and  rejects  the  common 
version  of  the  story  of"  crossing  the  line,"  as  an  example  of"  the  invin- 
cible passion  for  melodramatic  representation  which  people  of  second- 
rate  imagination  delight  in, — those  especially  who  have  not  seen  much 
of  human  affairs,  and  who  do  not  know  in  how  plain  and  unpretending 
a  manner  the  greatest  things  are,  for  the  most  part,  transacted."  (The 
Spanish  Conquest  in  America,  Am.  ed.,  vol.  iii.  p.  409.)  It  may  be 
admitted  that  there  are  many  people  of  second-rate,  or  even  third- or 
fourth-rate,  imagination,  who  have  employed  themselves  either  in  am- 
plifying or  simplifying  the  events  of  history  ;  but,  without  holding  any 
official  position,  one  may  have  seen  enough  of  "  human  affairs"  to  be- 
lieve that  neither  the  greatest  nor  the  smallest  things  are  always  trans- 
acted with  the  extreme  quietude  and  gentleness  that  accord  with  the 
tone  of  an  idyllic  historian.  In  regard  to  this  particular  affair,  Sir 
Arthur  Helps  relies  on  what  he  calls  the  "  simple  story"  told  by  Her- 
rera,  according  to  whom  it  was  Tafur  who  drew  the  line,  and  who 
makes  no  mention  of  Pizarro's  speech.  Garcilasso,  on  the  other 


304  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

settlers  were  to  be  exempted  from  some  of  the  most 
onerous  but  customary  taxes,  as  the  alcabala,  or  to  be 
subject  to  them  only  in  a  mitigated  form.  The  tax 
on  the  precious  metals  drawn  from  mines  was  to  be 
reduced,  at  first,  to  one-tenth,  instead  of  the  fifth  im- 
posed on  the  same  metals  when  obtained  by  barter  or 
by  rapine. 

It  was  expressly  enjoined  on  Pizarro  to  observe  the 
existing  regulations  for  the  good  government  and  pro- 
tection of  the  natives  ;  and  he  was  required  to  carry 
out  with  him  a  specified  number  of  ecclesiastics,  with 
whom  he  was  to  take  counsel  in  the  conquest  of  the 
country,  and  whose  efforts  were  to  be  dedicated  to  the 
service  and  conversion  of  the  Indians ;  while  lawyers 
and  attorneys,  on  the  other  hand,  whose  presence  was 
considered  as  boding  ill  to  the  harmony  of  the  new 
settlements,  were  strictly  prohibited  from  setting  foot 
in  them. 

Pizarro,  on  his  part,  was  bound,  in  six  months  from 
the  date  of  the  instrument,  to  raise  a  force,  well  equipped 
for  the  service,  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  of  whom 
one  hundred  might  be  drawn  from  the  colonies ;  and 
the  government  engaged  to  furnish  some  trifling  assist- 
ance in  the  purchase  of  artillery  and  military  stores. 
Finally,  he  was  to  be  prepared,  in  six  months  after  his 
return  to  Panama,  to  leave  that  port  and  embark  on  his 
expedition.2 

3  This  remarkable  document,  formerly  in  the  archives  of  Simancas, 


hand,  gives  exactly  the  same  relation  as  Montesinos,  whom  Prescott 
has  followed ;  and  we  can  feel  little  difficulty  in  agreeing  with  Mr. 
Markham  that  "  of  these  two  accounts  [Herrera's  and  Garcilasso's] 
that  of  Garcilasso  is  far  more  likely  to  be  true." — ED.] 


HIS  CAPITULATION  WITH    THE   CROWN.       305 

Such  are  some  of  the  principal  provisions  of  this 
Capitulation,  by  which  the  Castilian  government,  with 
the  sagacious  policy  which  it  usually  pursued  on  the 
like  occasions,  stimulated  the  ambitious  hopes  of  the 
adventurer  by  high-sounding  titles  and  liberal  prom- 
ises of  reward  contingent  on  his  success,  but  took 
care  to  stake  nothing  itself  on  the  issue  of  the  enter- 
prise. It  was  careful  to  reap  the  fruits  of  his  toil,  but 
not  to  pay  the  cost  of  them. 

A  circumstance  that  could  not  fail  to  be  remarked 
in  these  provisions  was  the  manner  in  which  the  high 
and  lucrative  posts  were  accumulated  on  Pizarro,  to 
the  exclusion  of  Almagro,  who,  if  he  had  not  taken 
as  conspicuous  a  part  in  personal  toil  and  exposure, 
had  at  least  divided  with  him  the  original  burden  of 
the  enterprise,  and,  by  his  labors  in  another  direction, 
had  contributed  quite  as  essentially  to  its  success.  Al- 
magro had  willingly  conceded  the  post  of  honor  to 
his  confederate ;  but  it  had  been  stipulated,  on  Pi- 
zarro's  departure  for  Spain,  that,  while  he  solicited  the 
office  of  Governor  and  Captain-General  for  himself, 
he  should  secure  that  of  Adelantado  for  his  compan- 
ion. In  like  manner,  he  had  engaged  to  apply  for 
the  see  of  Tumbez  for  the  vicar  of  Panama,  and  the 
office  of  Alguacil  Mayor  for  the  pilot  Ruiz.  The 
bishopric  took  the  direction  that  was  concerted,  for 
the  soldier  could  scarcely  claim  the  mitre  of  the  prel- 
ate ;  but  the  other  offices,  instead  of  their  appropriate 

and  now  transferred  to  the  Archivo  General  de  las  Indias  in  Seville, 
was  transcribed  for  the  rich  collection  of  the  late  Don  Martin  Fernan- 
dez de  Navarrete,  to  whose  kindness  I  am  indebted  for  a  copy  of  it. 
It  will  be  found  printed  entire,  in  the  original,  in  Appendix  No.  7. 
26* 


306  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

distribution,  were  all  concentrated  in  himself.  Yet  it 
was  in  reference  to  his  application  for  his  friends  that 
Pizarro  had  promised  on  his  departure  to  deal  fairly 
and  honorably  by  them  all.3 

It  is  stated  by  the  military  chronicler,  Pedro  Pizarro, 
that  his  kinsman  did,  in  fact,  urge  the  suit  strongly  in 
behalf  of  Almagro,  but  that  he  was  refused  by  the  gov- 
ernment, on  the  ground  that  offices  of  such  paramount 
importance  could  not  be  committed  to  different  indi- 
viduals. The  ill  effects  of  such  an  arrangement  had 
been  long  since  felt  in  more  than  one  of  the  Indian 
colonies,  where  it  had  led  to  rivalry  and  fatal  col- 
lision.4 Pizarro,  therefore,  finding  his  remonstrances 
unheeded,  had  no  alternative  but  to  combine  the  offices 
in  his  own  person,  or  to  see  the  expedition  fall  to  the 
ground.  This  explanation  of  the  affair  has  not  re- 
ceived the  sanction  of  other  contemporary  historians. 
The  apprehensions  expressed  by  Luque,  at  the  time  of 
Pizarro' s  assuming  the  mission,  of  some  such  result  as 

3  "  Al  fin  se  capitulo,  que  Francisco  Pigarro  negociase  la  Governa- 
cion  para  si :  i  para  Diego  de  Almagro,  el  Adelantamiento :  i  para 
Hernando  de  Luque,  el  Obispado :  i  para  Bartolome  Ruiz,  el  Algua- 
cilazgo  Maior :  i  Mercedes  para  los  que  quedaban  vivos,  de  los  trece 
Compafieros,  afirmando  siempre  Francisco  Pigarro,  que  todo  lo  queria 
para  ellos,  i  prometiendo,  que  negociaria  lealmente,  i  sin  ninguna 
cautela."     Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  4,  lib.  3,  cap.  i. 

4  "  Y  don  Francisco  Pigarro  pidio  conforme  &  lo  que  llevava  capitu- 
lado  y  hordenado  con  sus  companeros  ya  dicho,  y  en  el  consejo  se  le 
rrespondio  que  no  avia  lugar  de  dar  governacion  &  dos  companeros, 
a  caussa  de  que  en  santa  marta  se  avia  dado  ansi  &  dos  companeros 
y  el  uno  avia  muerto  al  otro.  .  .  .  Pues  pedido,  como  digo,  muchas 
vezes  por  don  Francisco  Pigarro  se  les  hiziese  la  merced  a  ambos  com- 
paneros, se  le  rrespondio  la  pidiesse  parassi  sino  que  se  daria  a  otro, 
y  visto  que  no  avia  lugar  lo  que  pedia  y  queria  pedio  se  le  hiziese  la 
merced  a  el,  y  ansi  se  le  hizo."     Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 


HE    VISITS   HIS    BIRTHPLACE.  307 

actually  occurred,  founded,  doubtless,  on  a  knowledge 
of  his  associate's  character,  may  warrant  us  in  distrust- 
ing the  alleged  vindication  of  his  conduct ;  and  our 
distrust  will  not  be  diminished  by  familiarity  with  his 
subsequent  career.  Pizarro's  virtue  was  not  of  a  kind 
to  withstand  temptation, — though  of  a  much  weaker 
sort  than  that  now  thrown  in  his  path. 

The  fortunate  cavalier  was  also  honored  with  the 
habit  of  St.  Jago  ; 5  and  he  was  authorized  to  make  an 
important  innovation  in  his  family  escutcheon, — for  by 
the  father's  side  he  might  claim  his  armorial  bearings. 
The  black  eagle  and  the  two  pillars  emblazoned  on  the 
royal  arms  were  incorporated  with  those  of  the  Pjzarros ; 
and  an  Indian  city,  with  a  vessel  in  the  distance  on  the 
waters,  and  the  llama  of  Peru,  revealed  the  theatre  and 
the  character  of  his  exploits ;  while  the  legend  an- 
nounced that  "under  the  auspices  of  Charles,  and  by 
the  industry,  the  genius,  and  the  resources  of  Pizarro, 
the  country  had  been  discovered  and  reduced  to  tran- 
quillity,"— thus  modestly  intimating  both  the  past  and 
prospective  services  of  the  Conqueror.6 

These  arrangements  having  been  thus  completed  to 
Pizarro's  satisfaction,  he  left  Toledo  for  Truxillo,  his 
native  place,  in  Estremadura,  where  he  thought  he 
should  be  most  likely  to  meet  with  adherents  for  his 
new  enterprise,  and  where  it  doubtless  gratified  his 
vanity  to  display  himself  in  the  palmy,  or  at  least 

s  Xerez,  Conq.del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn,  iii.p.  182. — Oviedo,  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS..  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  i. — Caro  de  Torres,  Historia 
de  las  Ordenes  militares  (ed.  Madrid,  1629),  p.  113. 

6  "  Caroli  Cassaris  auspicio.  et  labore,  ingenio,  ac  impensa  Ducis 
Pi9arro  inventa,  et  pacata."  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  4,  lib.  6, 
cap-  i. 


308  CONQUEST    OF  PERU. 

promising,  state  of  his  present  circumstances.  If  vanity 
be  ever  pardonable,  it  is  certainly  in  a  man  who,  born 
in  an  obscure  station  in  life,  without  family,  interest,  • 
or  friends  to  back  him,  has  carved  out  his  own  fortunes 
in  the  world,  and,  by  his  own  resources,  triumphed 
over  all  the  obstacles  which  nature  and  accident  had 
thrown  in  his  way.  Such  was  the  condition  of  Pizarro 
as  he  now  revisited  the  place  of  his  nativity,  where  he 
had  hitherto  been  known  only  as  a  poor  outcast,  with- 
out a  home  to  shelter,  a  father  to  own  him,  or  a  friend 
to  lean  upon.  But  he  now  found  both  friends  and  fol- 
lowers, and  some  who  were  eager  to  claim  kindred  with 
him  and  take  part  in  his  future  fortunes.  Among  these 
were  four  brothers.  Three  of  them,  like  himself,  were 
illegitimate, — one  of  whom,  named  Francisco  Martin 
de  Alcantara,  was  related  to  him  by  the  mother's  side, 
the  other  two,  named  Gonzalo  and  Juan  Pizarro,  were 
descended  from  the  father.  "  They  were  all  poor,  and 
proud  as  they  were  poor,"  says  Oviedo,  who  had  seen 
them  ;  "  and  their  eagerness  for  gain  was  in  proportion 
to  their  poverty."  7 

The  remaining  and  eldest  brother,  named  Hernando, 
was  a  legitimate  son, — "legitimate,"  continues  the 
same  caustic  authority,  "  by  his  pride,  as  well  as  by  his 
birth."  His  features  were  plain,  even  disagreeably  so  ; 
but  his  figure  was  good.  He  was  large  of  stature,  and, 
like  his  brother  Francis,  had  on  the  whole  an  imposing 
presence.8  In  his  character  he  combined  some  of  the 

7  "  Trujo  tres  o  cuatro  hermanos  suyos  tan  soberbios  como  pobres, 
t  tan  sin  hacienda  como  deseosos  de  alcanzarla."     Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  i. 

8  Oviedo's  portrait  of  him  is  by  no  means  nattering.     He  writes  like 
one  too  familiar  with  the  original.     "  6  de  todos  ellos  el  Hernand* 


HE    VISITS    HIS    BIRTHPLACE. 


3°9 


worst  defects  incident  to  the  Castilian.  He  was  jealous 
in  the  extreme ;  impatient,  not  merely  of  affront,  but 
of  the  least  slight,  and  implacable  in  his  resentment. 
He  was  decisive  in  his  measures,  and  unscrupulous  in 
their  execution.  No  touch  of  pity  had  power  to  arrest 
his  arm.  His  arrogance  was  such  that  he  was  con- 
stantly wounding  the  self-love  of  those  with  whom  he 
acted ;  thus  begetting  an  ill  will  which  unnecessarily 
multiplied  obstacles  in  his  path.  In  this  he  differed 
from  his  brother  Francis,  whose  plausible  manners 
smoothed  away  difficulties  and  conciliated  confidence 
and  co-operation  in  his  enterprises.  Unfortunately, 
the  evil  counsels  of  Hernando  exercised  an  influence 
over  his  brother  which  more  than  compensated  the  ad- 
vantages derived  from  his  singular  capacity  for  business. 
Notwithstanding  the  general  interest  which  Pizarro's 
adventures  excited  in  this  country,  that  chief  did  not 
find  it  easy  to  comply  with  the  provisions  of  the  Ca- 
pitulation in  respect  to  the  amount  of  his  levies.  Those 
who  were  most  astonished  by  his  narrative  were  not 
always  most  inclined  to  take  part  in  his  fortunes.  They 
shrank  from  the  unparalleled  hardships  which  lay  in 
the  path  of  the  adventurer  in  that  direction ;  and  they 
listened  with  visible  distrust  to  the  gorgeous  pictures 
of  the  golden  temples  and  gardens  of  Tumbez,  which 
they  looked  upon  as  indebted  in  some  degree,  at  least, 
to  the  coloring  of  his  fancy,  with  the  obvious  purpose 

Pizarro  solo  era  legitimo,  e  mas  legitimado  en  la  soberbia,  hombre  de 
alta  estatura  e  grueso,  la  lengua  e  labios  gordos,  e  la  punta  de  la  nariz 
con  sobrada  came  e  encendida,  y  este  fue  el  desavenidor  y  estorbador 
del  sosiego  de  todosy  en  especial  de  los  dos  viejos  companeros  Fran- 
cisco Pizarro  6  Diego  de  Almagro."  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  ub 
supra. 


3io  CONQUEST    OF  PERU. 

of  attracting  followers  to  his  banner.  It  is  even  said 
that  Pizarro  would  have  found  it  difficult  to  raise  the 
necessary  funds,  but  for  the  seasonable  aid  of  Cortes,  a 
native  of  Estremadura  like  himself,  his  companion  in 
arms  in  early  days,  and,  according  to  report,  his  kins- 
man.9 No  one  was  in  a  better  condition  to  hold  out 
a  helping  hand  to  a  brother  adventurer,  and  probably 
no  one  felt  greater  sympathy  in  Pizarro's  fortunes,  or 
greater  confidence  in  his  eventual  success,  than  the  man 
who  had  so  lately  trod  the  same  career  with  renown. 

The  six  months  allowed  by  the  Capitulation  had 
elapsed,  and  Pizarro  had  assembled  somewhat  less  than 
his  stipulated  complement  of  men,  with  which  he  was 
preparing  to  embark  in  a  little  squadron  of  three  ves- 
sels at  Seville ;  but  before  they  were  wholly  ready  he 
received  intelligence  that  the  officers  of  the  Council 
o£  the  Indies  proposed  to  inquire  into  the  condition 
of  the  vessels  and  ascertain  how  far  the  requisitions 
had  been  complied  with. 

Without  loss  of  time,  therefore,  Pizarro,  afraid,  if 
the  facts  were  known,  that  his  enterprise  might  be 
nipped  in  the  bud,  slipped  his  cables,  and,  crossing 
the  bar  of  San  Lucar,  in  January,  1530,  stood  for  the 
isle  of  Gomera, — one  of  the  Canaries, — where  he  or- 
dered his  brother  Hernando,  who  had  charge  of  the 
remaining  vessels,  to  meet  him. 

Scarcely  had  he  gone,  before  the  officers  arrived  to 
institute  the  search.  But  when  they  objected  the  de- 
ficiency of  men  they  were  easily — perhaps  willingly — 
deceived  by  the  pretext  that  the  remainder  had  gone 
forward  in  the  vessel  with  Pizarro.  At  all  events,  no 

9  Pizarro  y  Orellana,  Varones  ilustres,  p.  143. 


RETURNS    TO    THE    NEW  WORLD.          31  r 

further  obstacles  were  thrown  in  Hernando's  way,  and 
he  was  permitted,  with  the  rest  of  the  squadron,  to 
join  his  brother,  according  to  agreement,  at  Gomera. 

After  a  prosperous  voyage,  the  adventurers  reached 
the  northern  coast  of  the  great  southern  continent,  and 
anchored  off  the  port  of  Santa  Marta.  Here  they  re- 
ceived such  discouraging  reports  of  the  countries  to 
which  they  were  bound,  of  forests  teeming  with  insects 
and  venomous  serpents,  of  huge  alligators  that  swarmed 
on  the  banks  of  the  streams,  and  of  hardships  and  perils 
such  as  their  own  fears  had  never  painted,  that  several 
of  Pizarro's  men  deserted,  and  their  leader,  thinking 
it  no  longer  safe  to  abide  in  such  treacherous  quarters, 
set  sail  at  once  for  Nombre  de  Dios. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  there,  he  was  met  by  his  two 
associates,  Luque  and  Almagro,  who  had  crossed  the 
mountains  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  from  his  own  lips 
the  precise  import  of  the  Capitulation  with  the  crown. 
Great,  as  might  have  been  expected,  was  Almagro's 
discontent  at  learning  the  result  of  what  he  regarded 
as  the  perfidious  machinations  of  his  associate.  "Is 
it  thus,"  he  exclaimed,  "  that  you  have  dealt  with  the 
friend  who  shared  equally  with  you  in  the  trials,  the 
dangers,  and  the  cost  of  the  enterprise,  and  this,  not- 
withstanding your  solemn  engagements  on  your  de- 
parture to  provide  for  his  interests  as  faithfully  as  your 
own  ?  How  could  you  allow  me  to  be  thus  dishonored 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world  by  so  paltry  a  compensation, 
which  seems  to  estimate  my  services  as  nothing  in 
comparison  with  your  own?"  I0 

10  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  4,  lib.  7,  cap.  9. — Pedro  Pizarro, 
Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 


312  CONQUEST    OF  PERU. 

Pizarro,  in  reply,  assured  his  companion  that  he 
had  faithfully  urged  his  suit,  but  that  the  government 
refused  to  confide  powers  which  intrenched  so  closely 
on  one  another  to  different  hands.  He  had  no  alter- 
native but  to  accept  all  himself  or  to  decline  all ;  and 
he  endeavored  to  mitigate  Almagro's  displeasure  by 
representing  that  the  country  was  large  enough  for 
the  ambition  of  both,  and  that  the  powers  conferred 
on  himself  were,  in  fact,  conferred  on  Almagro,  since 
all  that  he  had  would  ever  be  at  his  friend's  disposal, 
as  if  it  were  his  own.  But  these  honeyed  words  did 
not  satisfy  the  injured  party;  and  the  two  captains 
soon  after  returned  to  Panama  with  feelings  of  es- 
trangement, if  not  hostility,  towards  one  another, 
which  did  not  augur  well  for  their  enterprise. 

Still,  Almagro  was  of  a  generous  temper,  and  might 
have  been  appeased  by  the  politic  concessions  of  his 
rival,  but  for  the  interference  of  Hernando  Pizarro, 
who,  from  the  first  hour  of  their  meeting,  showed 
little  respect  for  the  veteran,  which,  indeed,  the  di- 
minutive person  of  the  latter  was  not  calculated  to 
inspire,  and  who  now  regarded  him  with  particular 
aversion  as  an  impediment  to  the  career  of  his  brother. 

Almagro's  friends — and  his  frank  and  liberal  man- 
ners had  secured  him  many — were  no  less  disgusted 
than  himself  with  the  overbearing  conduct  of  this 
new  ally.  They  loudly  complained  that  it  was  quite 
enough  to  suffer  from  the  perfidy  of  Pizarro,  without 
being  exposed  to  the  insults  of  his  family,  who  had 
now  come  over  with  him  to  fatten  on  the  spoils  of 
conquest  which  belonged  to  their  leader.  The  rup- 
ture soon  proceeded  to  such  a  length  that  Almagro 


DIFFICULTIES   WITH  ALMAGRO. 


3*3 


avowed  his  intention  to  prosecute  the  expedition  with- 
out further  co-operation  with  his  partner,  and  actu- 
ally entered  into  negotiations  for  the  purchase  of 
vessels  for  that  object.  But  Luque,  and  the  Licen- 
tiate Espinosa,  who  had  fortunately  come  over  at  that 
time  from  St.  Domingo,  now  interposed  to  repair  a 
breach  which  must  end  in  the  ruin  of  the  enterprise 
and  the  probable  destruction  of  those  most  interested 
in  its  success.  By  their  mediation,  a  show  of  reconcili- 
ation was  at  length  effected  between  the  parties,  on 
Pizarro's  assurance  that  he  would  relinquish  the  dig- 
nity of  Adelantado  in  favor  of  his  rival,  and  petition 
the  emperor  to  confirm  him  in  the  possession  of  it, — 
an  assurance,  it  may  be  remarked,  not  easy  to  recon- 
cile with  his  former  assertion  in  respect  to  the  avowed 
policy  of  the  crown  in  bestowing  this  office.  He  was, 
moreover,  to  apply  for  a  distinct  government  for  his 
associate,  so  soon  as  he  had  become  master  of  the 
country  assigned  to  himself,  and  was  to  solicit  no 
office  for  either  of  his  own  brothers  until  Almagro 
had  been  first  provided  for.  Lastly,  the  former  con- 
tract in  regard  to  the  division  of  the  spoil  into  three 
equal  shares  between  the  three  original  associates  was 
confirmed  in  the  most  explicit  manner.  The  recon- 
ciliation thus  effected  among  the  parties  answered  the 
temporary  purpose  of  enabling  them  to  go  forward  in 
concert  in  the  expedition.  But  it  was  only  a  thin 
scar  that  had  healed  over  the  wound,  which,  deep  and 
rankling  within,  waited  only  fresh  cause  of  irritation 
to  break  out  with  a  virulence  more  fatal  than  ever." 

"  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Naharro,  Relacion  suma- 
ria,  MS. — Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1529. — Relacion  del  primer 
Peru.— VOL.  I.— o  27 


3 14  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

No  time  was  now  lost  in  preparing  for  the  voyage. 
It  found  little  encouragement,  however,  among  the 
colonists  of  Panama,  who  were  too  familiar  with  the 
sufferings  on  the  former  expeditions  to  care  to  under- 
take another,  even  with  the  rich  bribe  that  was  held 
out  to  allure  them.  A  few  of  the  old  company  were 
content  to  follow  out  the  adventure  to  its  close ;  and 
some  additional  stragglers  were  collected  from  the 
province  of  Nicaragua, — a  shoot,  it  may  be  remarked, 
from  the  colony  of  Panama.  But  Pizarro  made  slen- 
der additions  to  the  force  brought  over  with  him  from 
Spain,  though  this  body  was  in  better  condition,  and, 
in  respect  to  arms,  ammunition,  and  equipment  gen- 
erally, was  on  a  much  better  footing,  than  his  former 
levies.  The  whole  number  did  not  exceed  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  men,  with  twenty-seven  horses  for 
the  cavalry.  He  had  provided  himself  with  three 
vessels,  two  of  them  of  a  good  size,  to  take  the  place 
of  those  which  he  had  been  compelled  to  leave  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Isthmus  at  Nombre  de  Dios ; 
an  armament  small  for  the  conquest  of  an  empire, 
and  far  short  of  that  prescribed  by  the  Capitulation 
with  the  crown.  With  this  the  intrepid  chief  pro- 
posed to  commence  operations,  trusting  to  his  own 
successes,  and  the  exertions  of  Almagro,  who  was  to 

Descub.,  MS.— Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru.  lib.  i,  cap.  3.— Oviedo,  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  i. — There  seems  to  have  been 
little  good  will,  at  bottom,  between  any  of  the  confederates ;  for  Father 
Luque  wrote  to  Oviedo  that  both  of  his  partners  had  repaid  his  ser- 
vices with  ingratitude  :  "  Padre  Luque,  companero  de  estos  Capitanes, 
con  cuya  hacienda  hicieron  ellos  sus  hechos,  puesto  que  el  uno  e  el 
otro  se  lo  pagaron  con  ingratitud  segun  &  mi  me  lo  escribio  el  mismo 
electode  su  mano."  Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 


HIS    THIRD    EXPEDITION.  315 

remain  behind  for  the  present,   to  muster   reinforce;. 
ments.12 

On  St.  John  the  Evangelist's  day,  the  banners 
of  the  company  and  the  royal  standard  were  conse- 
crated in  the  cathedral  church  of  Panama ;  a  sermon 
was  preached  before  the  little  army  by  Fray  Juan  de 
Vargas,  one  of  the  Dominicans  selected  by  the  gov- 
ernment for  the  Peruvian  mission  ;  and  mass  was  per- 
formed, and  the  sacrament  administered  to  every  sol- 
dier previous  to  his  engaging  in  the  crusade  against 
the  infidel.'3  Having  thus  solemnly  invoked  the  bless- 
ing of  Heaven  on  the  enterprise,  Pizarro  and  his  fol- 
lowers went  on  board  their  vessels,  which  rode  at 
anchor  in  the  Bay  of  Panama,  and  early  in  January, 
1531,  sallied  forth  on  his  third  and  last  expedition  for 
the  conquest  of  Peru. 

It  was  his  intention  to  steer  direct  for  Tumbez, 
which  held  out  so  magnificent  a  show  of  treasure  on 
his  former  voyage.  But  head-winds  and  currents,  as 
usual,  baffled  his  purpose,  and  after  a  run  of  thirteen 
days,  much  shorter  than  the  period  formerly  required 
for  the  same  distance,  his  little  squadron  came  to 
anchor  in  the  Bay  ef  St.  Matthew,  about  one  degree 

12  The  numerical  estimates  differ,  as  usual.  I  conform  to  the  state- 
ment of  Pizarro's  secretary,  Xerez.  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn, 
iii.  p.  182. 

*3  "  El  qual  haviendo  hecho  bendecir  en  la  Iglesia  mayor  las  ban- 
deras  i  estandarte  real  dia  de  San  Juan  Evangelista  de  dicho  ano  de 
1530,  i  que  todos  los  soldados  confesasen  i  comulgasen  en  el  convento 
de  Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Merced,  dia  de  los  Inocentes  en  la  misa  can- 
tada  que  se  celebro  con  toda  solemnidad  i  sermon  que  predic6  el  P. 
Presentdo  Fr.  Juan  de  Vargas,  uno  de  los  5  religiosos  que  en  cumpli- 
miento  de  la  obediencia  de  sus  prelados  i  orden  del  Emperador  pasa 
ban  a  la  conquista."  Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. 


3I6  CONQUEST    OF   PEAT. 

north  ;  and  Pizarro,  after  consulting  with  his  officers, 
resolved  to  disembark  his  forces  and  advance  along 
the  coast,  while  the  vessels  held  their  course  at  a  con- 
venient distance  from  the  shore. 

The  march  of  the  troops  was  severe  and  painful  in 
the  extreme  ;  for  the  road  was  constantly  intersected  by 
streams,  which,  swollen  by  the  winter  rains,  widened 
at  their  mouths  into  spacious  estuaries.  Pizarro,  who 
had  some  previous  knowledge  of  the  country,  acted 
as  guide  as  well  as  commander  of  the  expedition.  He 
was  ever  ready  to  give  aid  where  it  was  needed,  en- 
couraging his  followers  to  ford  or  swim  the  torrents  as 
they  best  could,  and  cheering  the  desponding  by  his 
own  buoyant  and  courageous  spirit. 

At  length  they  reached  a  thick -settled  hamlet,  or 
rather  town,  in  the  province  of  Coaque.  The  Span- 
iards rushed  on  the  place,  and  the  inhabitants,  without 
offering  resistance,  fled  in  terror  to  the  neighboring 
forests,  leaving  their  effects — of  much  greater  value 
than  had  been  anticipated — in  the  hands  of  the  in- 
vaders. "  We  fell  on  them,  sword  in  hand,"  says 
one  of  the  Conquerors,  with  some  natvett ;  "for  if 
we  had  advised  the  Indians  of  our  approach  we  should 
never  have  found  there  such  store  of  gold  and  precious 
stones."  M  The  natives,  however,  according  to  another 
authority,  stayed  voluntarily  ;  "  for,  as  they  had  done 
no  harm  to  the  white  men,  they  flattered  themselves 
none  would  be  offered  to  them,  but  that  there  would 

'4  "  Pues  llegados  d  este  pueblo  de  Coaque  dieron  de  supito  sin 
savello  la  gente  del  porque  si  estuvieran  avisados.  No  se  tomara  la 
cantidad  de  oro  y  esmeraldas  que  en  el  se  tomaron."  Pedro  Pizarro, 
Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 


ADVENTURES    ON    THE  COAST.  317 

be.  only  an  interchange  of  good  offices  with  the 
strangers,"15 — an  expectation  founded,  it  may  be,  on 
the  good  character  which  the  Spaniards  had  estab- 
lished for  themselves  on  their  preceding  visit,  but  one 
in  which  the  simple  people  now  found  themselves  most 
unpleasantly  deceived. 

Rushing  into  the  deserted  dwellings,  the  invaders 
found  there,  besides  stuffs  of  various  kinds,  and  food 
most  welcome  in  their  famished  condition,  a  large 
quantity  of  gold  and  silver  wrought  into  clumsy  orna- 
ments, together  with  many  precious  stones ;  for  this 
was  the  region  of  the  esmcraldas,  or  emeralds,  where 
that  valuable  gem  was  most  abundant.  One  of  these 
jewels,  that  fell  into  the  hands  of  Pizarro  in  this 
neighborhood,  was  as  large  as  a  pigeon's  egg.  Un- 
luckily, his  rude  followers  did  not  know  the  value  of 
their  prize ;  and  they  broke  many  of  them  in  pieces 
by  pounding  them  with  hammers.16  They  were  led  to 
this  extraordinary  proceeding,  it  is  said,  by  one  of  the 
Dominican  missionaries,  Fray  Reginaldo  de  Pedraza, 
who  assured  them  that  this  was  the  way  to  prove  the 
true  emerald,  which  could  not  be  broken.  It  was  ob- 
served that  the  good  father  did  not  subject  his  own 
jewels  to  this  wise  experiment ;  but,  as  the  stones,  in 

is  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  4,  lib.  7,  cap.  9. 

16  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. — Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib. 
i,  cap.  4. — "  A  lo  que  se  ha  entendido  en  las  esmeraldas  ovo  gran 
hierro  y  torpedad  en  algunas  Personas  por  no  conoscellas.  Aunque 
quieren  decir  que  algunos  que  las  conoscieron  las  guardaron.  Pero 
ffinalmente  muchos  vbieron  esmeraldas  de  mucho  valor ;  vnos  las  pro- 
vavan  en  yunques,  dandolas  con  martillos,  diziendo  que  si  hera  esme- 
ralda  no  se  quebraria ;  otros  las  despreciaban,  diziendo  que  era  vidrio." 
Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 
27* 


3i8  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

consequence  of  it,  fell  in  value,  being  regarded  merely 
as  colored  glass,  he  carried  back  a  considerable  store 
of  them  to  Panama.17 

The  gold  and  silver  ornaments  rifled  from  the  dwell- 
ings were  brought  together  and  deposited  in  a  common 
heap ;  when  a  fifth  was  deducted  for  the  crown,  and 
Pizarro  distributed  the  remainder  in  due  proportions 
among  the  officers  and  privates  of  his  company.  This 
was  the  usage  invariably  observed  on  the  like  occasions 
throughout  the  Conquest.  The  invaders  had  embarked 
in  a  common  adventure.  Their  interest  was  common, 
and'  to  have  allowed  every  one  to  plunder  on  his  own 
account  would  only  have  led  to  insubordination  and 
perpetual  broils.  All  were  required,  therefore,  on  pain 
of  death,  to  contribute  whatever  they  obtained,  whether 
by  bargain  or  by  rapine,  to  the  general  stock ;  and  all 
were  too  much  interested  in  the  execution  of  the  pen- 
alty to  allow  the  unhappy  culprit  who  violated  the  law 
any  chance  of  escape.18 

Pizarro,  with  his  usual  policy,  sent  back  to  Panama 
a  large  quantity  of  the  gold,  no  less  than  twenty'thou- 
sand  castellanos  in  value,  in  the  belief  that  the  sight  of 
so  much  treasure,  thus  speedily  acquired,  would  settle 
the  doubts  of  the  wavering  and  decide  them  on  joining 

'7  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general, 
dec.  4,  lib.  7,  cap.  9. 

18  "  Los  Espanoles  las  rrecoxeron  y  juntaron  el  oro  y  la  plata, 
porque  asi  estava  mandado  y  hordenado  sopena  de  la  vida  el  que  otra 
cossa  hiziese,  porque  todos  lo  avian  de  traer  a  monton  para  que  de 
alii  el  governador  lo  rrepartiese,  dando  a  cada  uno  confforme  a  su 
persona  y  meritos  de  servicios  ;  y  esta  horden  se  guardo  en  toda  esta 
tierra  en  la  conquista  della,  y  al  que  se  le  hallara  oro  6  plata  escon- 
dido  muriera  por  ello,  y  deste  medio  nadie  oso  escondello."  Pedro 
Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 


ADVENTURED    ON    THE   COAST. 


3*9 


his  banner.19  He  judged  right.  As  one  of  the  Con- 
querors piously  expresses  it,  "  It  pleased  the  Lord  that 
we  should  fall  in  with  the  town  of  Coaque,  that  the  riches 
of  the  land  might  find  credit  with  the  people,  and  that 
they  should  flock  to  it."  x 

Pizarro,  having  refreshed  his  men,  continued  his 
march  along  the  coast,  but  no  longer  accompanied  by 
the  vessels,  which  had  returned  for  recruits  to  Panama. 
The  road,  as  he  advanced,  was  checkered  with  strips 
of  sandy  waste,  which,  drifted  about  by  the  winds, 
blinded  the  soldiers,  and  afforded  only  treacherous 
footing  for  man  and  beast.  The  glare  was  intense ; 
and  the  rays  of  a  vertical  sun  beat  fiercely  on  the  iron 
mail  and  the  thick  quilted  doublets  of  cotton,  till  the 
fainting  troops  were  almost  suffocated  with  the  heat. 
To  add  to  their  distresses,  a  strange  epidemic  broke 
out  in  the  little  army.  It  took  the  form  of  ulcers,  or 
rather  hideous  warts  of  great  size,  which  covered  the 
b6dy,  and  when  lanced,  as  was  the  case  with  some, 
discharged  such  a  quantity  of  blood  as  proved  fatal  to 
the  sufferer.  Several  died  of  this  frightful  disorder, 
which  was  so  sudden  in  its  attack,  and  attended  with 

'9  The  booty  was  great  indeed,  if,  as  Pedro  Pizarro,  one  of  the  Con- 
querors present,  says,  it  amounted  in  value  to  200,000  gold  castellanos  : 
"Aqui  se  hallo  mucha  chaquira  de  oro  y  de  plata,  muchas  coronas 
hechas  de  oro  a  manera  de  imperiales,  y  otras  muchas  piezas  en  que 
se  avaleo  montar  mas  de  dozientos  mill  castellanos."  (Descub.  y 
Conq.,  MS.)  Naharro,  Montesinos,  and  Herrera  content  themselves 
with  stating  that  he  sent  back  20,000  castellanos  in  the  vessels  to 
Panama. 

20  "  Fueron  a  dar  en  vn  pueblo  que  se  dezia  Coaque  que  fue  nue- 
stro  Sefior  servido  tapasen  con  el,  porque  con  lo  que  en  el  se  hallo  se 
acredito  la  tierra  y  vino  gente  a  ella."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y 
Conq.,  MS. 


320  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

such  prostration  of  strength,  that  those  who  lay  down 
well  at  night  were  unable  to  lift  their  hands  to  their 
heads  in  the  morning."  The  epidemic,  which  made  its 
first  appearance  during  this  invasion,  and  which  did 
not  long  survive  it,  spread  over  the  country,  sparing 
neither  native  nor  white  man.22  It  was  one  of  those 
plagues  from  the  vial  of  wrath,  which  the  destroying 
angel,  who  follows  in  the  path  of  the  conqueror,  pours 
out  on  the  devoted  nations. 

The  Spaniards  rarely  experienced  on  their  march 
either  resistance  or  annoyance  from  the  inhabitants, 
who,  instructed  by  the  example  of  Coaque,  fled  with 
their  effects  into  the  woods  and  neighboring  mountains. 
No  one  came  out  to  welcome  the  strangers  and  offer 
the  rites  of  hospitality,  as  on  their  last  visit  to  the 
land.  For  the  white  men  were  no  longer  regarded  as 
good  beings  that  had  come  from  heaven,  but  as  ruth- 
less destroyers,  who,  invulnerable  to  the  assaults  of  the 
Indians,  were  borne  along  on  the  backs  of  fierce  ani- 
mals, swifter  than  the  wind,  with  weapons  in  their 
hands  that  scattered  fire  and  desolation  as  they  went. 
Such  were  the  stories  now  circulated  of  the  invaders, 
which,  preceding  them  everywhere  on  their  march, 
closed  the  hearts,  if  not  the  doors,  of  the  natives  against 
them.  Exhausted  by  the  fatigue  of  travel  and  by  dis- 
ease, and  grievously  disappointed  at  the  poverty  of  the 
land,  which  now  offered  no  compensation  for  their 
toils,  the  soldiers  of  Pizarro  cursed  the  hour  in  which 
they  had  enlisted  under  his  standard,  and  the  men  of 

21  Naharro,   Relaeion   sumaria,  MS. — Pedro  Pizarro,   Descub.  y 
Conq.,  MS. — Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  afio  1530. 
*»  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  2,  lib.  i,  cap.  15. 


ADVENTURES    ON    THE   COAST. 


321 


Nicaragua  in  particular,  says  the  old  chronicler,  call- 
ing to  mind  their  pleasant  quarters  in  their  luxurious 
land,  sighed  only  to  return  to  their  Mahometan  para- 
dise. ••» 

At  this  juncture  the  army  was  gladdened  by  the 
sight  of  a  vessel  from  Panama,  which  brought  some 
supplies,  together  with*  the  royal  treasurer,  the  veedor 
or  inspector,  the  comptroller,  and  other  high  officers 
appointed  by  the  crown  to  attend  the  expedition. 
They  had  been  left  in  Spain  by  Pizarro,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  abrupt  departure  from  the  country ;  and 
the  Council  of  the  Indies,  on  learning  the  circum- 
stance, had  sent  instructions  to  Panama  to  prevent  the 
sailing  of  his  squadron  from  that  port.  But  the  Span- 
ish government,  with  more  wisdom,  countermanded 
the  order,  only  requiring  the  functionaries  to  quicken 
their  own  departure  and  take  their  place  without  loss 
of  time  in  the  expedition. 

The  Spaniards  in  their  march  along  the  coast  had 
now  advanced  as  far  as  Puerto  Viejo.  Here  they  were 
soon  after  joined  by  another  small  reinforcement  of 
about  thirty  men,  under  an  officer  named  Benalcazar, 
who  subsequently  rose  to  high  distinction  in  this  service. 
Many  of  the  followers  of  Pizarro  would  now  have 
halted  at  this  spot  and  established  a  colony  there.  But 
that  chief  thought  more  of  conquering  than  of  colo- 
nizing, at  least  for  the  present ;  and  he  proposed,  as 

33"  Aunque  ellos  no  ninguno  por  aver  venido,  porque  como  avian 
dexado  el  paraiso  de  mahoma  que  hera  Nicaragua  y  hallaron  la  isla 
alzada  y  falta  de  comidas  y  la  mayor  parte  de  la  gente  enfferma  y  no 
oro  ni  plata  como  atras  avian  hallado,  algunos  y  todos  se  holgaran 
de  volver  de  adonde  avian  venido."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq., 
MS. 

o* 


322  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

his  first  step,  to  get  possession  of  Turabez,  which  he 
regarded  as  the  gate  of  the  -Peruvian  empire.  Con- 
tinuing his  march,  therefore,  to  the  shores  of  what  is 
now  called  the  Gulf  of  Guayaquil,  he  arrived  off  the 
little  island  of  Puna,  lying  at  no  great  distance  from 
the  Bay  of  Tumbez.  This  island,  he  thought,  would 
afford  him  a  convenient  place  tt>  encamp  until  he  was 
prepared  to  make  his  descent  on  the  Indian  city. 

The  dispositions  of  the  islanders  seemed  to  favor  his 
purpose.  He  had  not  been  long  in  their  neighborhood 
before  a  deputation  of  the  natives,  with  their  cacique 
at  their  head,  crossed  over  in  their  balsas  to  the  main 
land  to  welcome  the  Spaniards  to  their  residence.  But 
the  Indian  interpreters  of  Tumbez,  who  had  returned 
with  Pizarro  from  Spain,  and  continued  with  the  camp, 
put  their  master  on  his  guard  against  the  meditated 
treachery  of  the  islanders,  whom  they  accused  of  de- 
signing to  destroy  the  Spaniards  by  cutting  the  ropes 
that  held  together  the  floats  and  leaving  those  upon 
them  to  perish  in  the  waters.  Yet  the  cacique,  when 
charged  by  Pizarro  with  this  perfidious  scheme,  denied 
it  with  such  an  air  of  conscious  innocence  that  the 
Spanish  commander  trusted  himself  and  his  followers, 
without  further  hesitation,  to  his  conveyance,  and  was 
transported  in  safety  to  the  shores  of  Puna. 

Here  he  was  received  in  a  hospitable  manner,  and 
his  troops  were  provided  with  comfortable  quarters. 
Well  satisfied  with  his  present  position,  Pizarro  re- 
solved to  occupy  it  until  the  violence  of  the  rainy 
season  was  past,  when  the  arrival  of  the  reinforce- 
ments he  expected  would  put  him  in  better  condition 
for  marching  into  the  country  of  the  Inca. 


ADVENTURES    ON    THE  COAST.  323 


The  island,  which  lies  in  the  mouth  of  the  river  of 
Guayaquil,  and  is  about  eight  leagues  in  length  by  four 
in  breadth  at  the  widest  part,  was  at  that  time  par- 
tially covered  with  a  noble  growth  of  timber.  But  a 
large  portion  of  it  was  subjected  to  cultivation,  and 
bloomed  with  plantations  of  cacao,  of  the  sweet  po- 
tato, and  the  different  products  of  a  tropical  clime, 
evincing  agricultural  knowledge  as  well  as  industry  in 
the  population.  They  were  a  warlike  race,  but  had 
received  from  their  Peruvian  foes  the  appellation  of 
"  perfidious."  It  was  the  brand  fastened  by  the  Roman 
historians  on  their  Carthaginian  enemies, — with  perhaps 
no  better  reason.  The  bold  and  independent  islanders 
opposed  a  stubborn  resistance  to  the  arms  of  the  Incas ; 
and,  though  they  had  finally  yielded,  they  had  been 
ever  since  at  feud,  and  often  in  deadly  hostility,  with 
their  neighbors  of  Tumbez. 

The  latter  no  sooner  heard  of  Pizarro's  arrival  on 
the  island  than,  trusting  probably  to  their  former, 
friendly  relations  with  him,  they  came  over  in  some 
number  to  the  Spanish  quarters.  The  presence  of  their 
detested  rivals  was  by  no  means  grateful  to  the  jealous 
inhabitants  of  Puna,  and  the  prolonged  residence  of  Is 
the  white  men  on  their  island  could  not  be  otherwise 
than  burdensome.  In  their  outward  demeanor  they 
still  maintained  the  same  show  of  amity  ;  but  Pizarro's 
interpreters  again  put  him  on  his  guard  against  the 
proverbial  perfidy  of  their  hosts.  With  his  suspicions 
thus  roused,  the  Spanish  commander  was  informed 
that  a  number  of  the  chiefs  had  met  together  to  de- 
liberate on  a  plan  of  insurrection.  Not  caring  to  wait 
for  the  springing  of  the  mine,  he  surrounded  the  place 


3 24  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

of  meeting  with  his  soldiers  and  made  prisoners  of  the 
suspected  chieftains.  According  to  one  authority,  they 
confessed  their  guilt.24  This  is  by  no  means  certain. 
Nor  is  it  certain  that  they  meditated  an  insurrection. 
Yet  the  fact  is  not  improbable  in  itself;  though  it  de- 
rives little  additional  probability  from  the  assertion  of 
the  hostile  interpreters.  It  is  certain,  however,  that 
Pizarro  was  satisfied  of  the  existence'  of  a  conspiracy ; 
and*,  without  further  hesitation,  he  abandoned  his 
wretched  prisoners,  ten  or  twelve  in  number,  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  their  rivals  of  Tumbez,  who  instantly 
massacred  them  before  his  eyes.23 

Maddened  by  this  outrage,  the  people  of  Puna 
sprang  to  arms,  and  threw  themselves  at  once,  with 
fearful  yells  and  the  wildest  menaces  of  despair,  on  the 
Spanish  camp.  The  odds  of  numbers  were  greatly  in 
their  favor,  for  they  mustered  several  thousand  war- 
riors. But  the  more  decisive  odds  of  arms  and  disci- 
pline were  on  the  side  of  their  antagonists ;  and,  as 
the  Indians  rushed  forward  in  a  confused  mass  to  the 
assault,  the  Castilians  coolly  received  them  on  their 
long  pikes  or  swept  them  down  by  the  volleys  of  their 
musketry.  Their  ill-protected  bodies  were  easily  cut 
to  pieces  by  the  sharp  sword  of  the  Spaniard ;  and 
Hernando  Pizarro,  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
cavalry,  charged  boldly  into  the  midst,  and  scattered 
them  far  and  wide  over  the  field,  until,  panic-struck 

"4  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  183. 

»S  "  Y  el  marques  don  Francisco  Pi9arro,  por  tenellos  por  amigos  y 
estuviesen  de  paz  quando  allapassasen,  les  dio  algunos  principales  los 
quales  ellos  matavan  en  presencia  de  los  espanoles,  cortandoles  las 
cavezas  por  el  cogote."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 


BATTLES    IN    THE    ISLE    OF   PUNA. 


325 


by  the,  terrible  array  of  steel-clad  horsemen  and  the 
stunning  reports  and  the  flash  of  fire-arms,  the  fugi- 
tives sought  shelter  in  the  depths  of  their  forests.  Yet 
the  victory  was  owing,  in  some  degree,  at  least, — if 
we  may  credit  the  Conquerors, — to  the  interposition 
of  Heaven ;  for  St.  Michael  and  his  legions  were  seen 
high  in  the  air  above  the  combatants,  contending  with 
the  arch-enemy  of  man  and  cheering  on  the  Christians 
by  their  example  ! 26 

Not  more  than  three  or  four  Spaniards  fell  in  the 
fight ;  but  many  were  wounded,  and  among  them  Her- 
nando  Pizarro,  who  received  a  severe  injury  in  the  leg 
from  a  javelin.  Nor  did  the  war  end  here ;  for  the 
implacable  islanders,  taking  advantage  of  the  cover  of 
night,  or  of  any  remissness  on  the  part  of  the  invaders, 
were  ever  ready  to  steal  out  of  their  fastnesses  and  spring 
on  their  enemy's  camp,  while,  by  cutting  off  his  strag- 
gling parties  and  destroying  his  provisions,  they  kept 
him  in  perpetual  alarm. 

In  this  uncomfortable  situation,  the  Spanish  com- 
mander was  gladdened  by  the  appearance  of  two  ves- 
sels off  the  island.  They  brought  a  reinforcement 

26  The  city  of  San  Miguel  was  so  named  by  Pizarro  to  commemorate 
the  event ;  and  the  existence  of  such  a  city  may  be  considered  by  some 
as  establishing  the  truth  of  the  miracle. — "  En  la  batalla  de  Fund 
vieron  muchos,  ya  de  los  Indies,  ya  de  los  nuestros,  que  habia  en  el 
aire  otros  dos  campos,  uno  acaudillado  por  el  Arcangel  Sn  Miguel  con 
espada  y  rodela,  y  otro  por  Luzbel  y  sus  secuaces  ;  mas  apenas  canta- 
ron  losCastellanos  la  victoria  huyeron  los  diablos,  y  formando  un  gran 
torvellino  de  viento  se  oyer'on  en  el  aire  unas  terribles  voces  que  decian, 
Vencistenos  !  Miguel  vencistenos  !  De  aqui  torno  Dn  Francisco  Pi- 
zarro tanta  devocion'al  sto  Arcangel,  que  prometio  llamar  la  primera 
ciudad  que  fundase  de  su  nombre ;  cumpliolo  asi  como  veremos 
adelante."  Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  afio  1530. 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  28 


326  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

consisting  of  a  hundred  volunteers,  besides  horses  for 
the  cavalry.  It  was  commanded  by  Hernando  de 
Soto,  a  captain  afterwards  famous  as  the  discoverer  of 
the  Mississippi,  which  still  rolls  its  majestic  current 
over  the  place  of  his  burial, — a  fitting  monument  for 
his  remains,  as  it  is  of  his  renown.27 

This  reinforcement  was  most  welcome  to  Pizarro, 
who  had  been  long  discontented  with  his  position 
on  an  island,  where  he  found  nothing  to  compensate 
the  life  of  unintermitting  hostility  which  he  was  com- 
pelled to  lead.  With  these  recruits  he  felt  himself  in 
sufficient  strength  to  cross  over  to  the  continent  and 
resume  military  operations  on  the  proper  theatre  for 
discovery  and  conquest.  From  the  Indians  of  Tum- 
bez  he  learned  that  the  country  had  been  for  some 
time  distracted  by  a  civil  war  between  two  sons  of 
the  late  monarch,  competitors  for  the  throne.  This 
intelligence  he  regarded  as  of  the  utmost  importance, 
for  he  remembered  the  use  which  Cortes  had  made  of 
similar  dissensions  among  the  tribes  of  Anahuac.  In- 
deed, Pizarro  seems  to  have  had  the  example  of  his 
great  predecessor  before  his  eyes  on  more  occasions 
than  this.  But  he  fell  far  short  of  his  model ;  for, 
notwithstanding  the  restraint  he  sometimes  put  upon 
himself,  his  coarser  nature  and  more  ferocious  temper 
often  betrayed  him  into  acts  most  repugnant  to  sound 
policy,  which  would  never  have  been  countenanced  by 
the  Conqueror  of  Mexico. 

*?  The  transactions  in  Fund  are  given  at  more  or  less  length  by 
Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS.— Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS.— Pedro 
Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ubi  supra. 
— Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap. 
Barcia,  torn.  iii.  pp.  182,  183. 


CHAPTER    II. 

PERU    AT    THE    TIME     OF    THE    CONQUEST. REIGft    OF 

HUAYNA     CAPAC. THE      INCA     BROTHERS. —  CONTEST 

FOR     THE      EMPIRE. TRIUMPH      AND     CRUELTIES      OF 

ATAHUALLPA. 

BEFORE  accompanying  the  march  of  Pizarro  and  his 
followers  into  the  country  of  the  Incas,  it  is  necessary 
to  make  the  reader  acquainted  with  the  critical  situa- 
tion of  the  kingdom  at  this  time.  For  the  Spaniards 
arrived  just  at  the  consummation  of  an  important  revo- 
lution,— a  crisis  most  favorable  to  their  views  of  con- 
quest, and  one,  indeed,  but  for  which  the  conquest, 
with  such  a  handful  of  soldiers,  could  never  have  been 
achieved. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  died  Tu- 
pac Inca  Yupanqui,  one  of  the  most  renowned  of  the 
"Children  of  the  Sun,"  who,  carrying  the  Peruvian 
arms  across  the  burning  sands  of  Atacama,  penetrated 
to  the  remote  borders  of  Chili,  while  in  the  opposite 
direction  he  enlarged  the  limits  of  the  empire  by  the 
acquisition  of  the  southern  provinces  of  Quito.  The 
war  in  this  quarter  was  conducted  by  his  son  Huayna 
Capac,  who  succeeded  his  father  on  the  throne,  and 
fully  equalled  him  in  military  daring  and  in  capacity 
for  government. 

Under  this  prince,  the  whole  of  the  powerful  state 
of  Quito,  which  rivalled  that  of  Peru  itself  in  wealth 
and  refinement,  was  brought  under  the  sceptre  of  the 

(327) 


328  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

Incas ;  whose  empire  received  by  this  conquest  the 
most  important  accession  yet  made  to  it  since  the 
foundation  of  the  dynasty  of  Manco  Capac.  The  re- 
maining days  of  the  victorious  monarch  were  passed  in 
reducing  the  independent  tribes  on  the  remote  limits 
of  flis  territory,  and,  still  more,  in  cementing  his  con- 
quests by  the  introduction  of  the  Peruvian  polity. 
He  was  actively  engaged  in  completing  the  great 
works  of  his  father,  especially  the  high-roads  which 
led  from  Quito  to  the  capital.  He  perfected  the 
establishment  of  posts,  took  great  pains  to  introduce 
the  Quichua  dialect  throughout  the  empire,  promoted 
a  better  system  of  agriculture,  and,  in  fine,  encouraged 
the  different  branches  of  domestic  industry  and  the 
various  enlightened  plans  of  his  predecessors  for  the 
improvement  of  his  people.  Under  his  sway  the 
Peruvian  monarchy  reached  its  most  palmy  state ;  and 
under  both  him  and  his  illustrious  father  it  was  ad- 
vancing with  such  rapid  strides  in  the  march  of  civil- 
ization as  would  soon  have  carried  it  to  a  level  with 
the  more  refined  despotisms  of  Asia,  furnishing  the 
world,  perhaps,  with  higher  evidence  of  the  capabili- 
ties of  the  American  Indian  than  is  elsewhere  to  be 
found  on  the  great  Western  continent.  But  other 
and  gloomier  destinies  were  in  reserve  for  the  Indian 
races. 

The  first  arrival  of  the  white  men  on  the  South 
American  shores  of  the  Pacific  was  about  ten  years  be- 
fore the  death  of  Huayna  Capac,  when  Balboa  crossed 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Michael  and  obtained  the  first  clear 
report  of  the  empire  of  the  Incas.  Whether  tidings 
of  these  adventurers  reached  the  Indian  monarch's 


REIGX    Oh\  IIUA  YNA   CAPAC.  329 

ears  is  doubtful.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that 
he  obtained  the  news  of  the  first  expedition  under 
Pizarro  and  Almagro,  when  the  latter  commander 
penetrated  as  far  as  the  Rio  de  San  Juan,  about  the 
fourth  degree  north.  The  accounts  which  he  received 
made  a  strong  impression  on  the  mind  of  Huayna 
Capac.  He  discerned  in  the  formidable  prowess  and 
weapons  of  the  invaders  proofs  of  a  civilization  far 
superior  to  that  of  his  own  people.  He  intimated 
his  apprehension  that  they  would  return,  and  that  at 
some  day,  not  far  distant  perhaps,  the  throne  of  the 
Incas  might  be  shaken  by  these  strangers  endowed 
with  such  incomprehensible  powers.'  To  the  vulgar 
eye,  it  was  a  little  speck  on  the  verge  of  the  horizon ; 
but  that  of  the  sagacious  monarch  seemed  to  descry  in 
it  the  dark  thunder-cloud  that  was  to  spread  wider 
and  wider  till  it  burst  in  fury  on  his  nation. 

There  is  some  ground  for  believing  thus  much.  But 
other  accounts,  which  have  obtained  a  popular  cur- 
rency, not  content  with  this,  connect  the  first  tidings 
of  the  white  men  with  predictions  long  extant  in  the 
country,  and  with  supernatural  appearances  which 
filled  the  hearts  of  the  whole  nation  with  dismay. 
Comets  were  seen  flaming  athwart  the  heavens.  Earth- 
quakes shook  the  land ;  the  moon  was  girdled  with 
rings  of  fire  of  many  colors ;  a  thunderbolt  fell  on 
one  of  the  royal  palaces  and  consumed  it  to  ashes ; 
and  an  eagle,  chased  by  several  hawks,  was  seen, 
screaming  in  the  air,  to  hover  above  the  great  square 
of  Cuzco,  when,  pierced  by  the  talons  of  his  tor- 

1  Sarmiento,  an  honest  authority,  tells  us  he  had  thfs  from  some  of 
the  Inca  lords  who  heard  it.     Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  65. 
28* 


330  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

mentors,  the  king  of  birds  fell  lifeless  in  the  pres- 
ence of  many  of  the  Inca  nobles,  who  read  in  this 
an  augury  of  their  own  destruction.  Huayna  Capac 
himself,  calling  his  great  officers  around  him,  as  he 
found  he  was  drawing  near  his  end,  announced  the 
subversion  of  his  empire  by  the  race  of  white  and 
bearded  strangers,  as  the  consummation  predicted  by 
the  oracles  after  the  reign  of  the  twelfth  Inca,  and  he 
enjoined  it  on  his  vassals  not  to  resist  the  decrees  of 
Heaven,  but  to  yield  obedience  to  its  messengers.2 

Such  is  the  report  of  the  impressions  made  by  the 
appearance  of  the  Spaniards  in  the  country,  remind- 
ing one  of  the  similar  feelings  of  superstitious  terror 
occasioned  by  their  appearance  in  Mexico.  But  the 
traditions  of  the  latter  land  rest  on  much  higher 
authority  than  those  of  the  Peruvians,  which,  unsup- 
ported by  contemporary  testimony,  rest  almost  wholly 
on  the  naked  assertion  of  one  of  their  own  nation, 
who  thought  to  find,  doubtless,  in  the  inevitable  de- 
crees of  Heaven  the  best  apology  for  the  supineness 
of  his  countrymen. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  rumors  of  the  advent  of  a 
strange  and  mysterious  race  should  have  spread  grad- 
ually among  the  Indian  tribes  along  the  great  table- 

8  A  minute  relation  of  these  supernatural  occurrences  is  given  by 
the  Inca  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  9,  cap.  14), 
whose  situation  opened  to  him  the  very  best  sources  of  information, 
which  is  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  defects  of  his  own  char- 
acter as  an  historian, — his  childish  credulity,  and  his  desire  to  magnify 
and  mystify  every  thing  relating  to  his  own  order,  and,  indeed,  his 
nation.  His  work  is  the  source  of  most  of  the  facts— and  the  false- 
hoods— that  have  obtained  circulation  in  respect  to  the  ancient  Peru- 
vians. Unfortunately,  at  this  distance  of  time  it  is  not  always  easy  to 
distinguish  the  one  from  the  other. 


REIGN   OF  IWAYXA   CAP  AC. 


33' 


land  of  the  Cordilleras,  and  should  have  shaken  the 
hearts  of'  the  stoutest  warriors  with  feelings  of  unde- 
fined dread,  as  of  some  impending  calamity.  In  this 
state  of  mind,  it  was  natural  that  physical  convul- 
sions, to  which  that  volcanic  country  is  peculiarly 
subject,  should  have  made  an  unwonted  impression 
on  their  minds,  and  that  the  phenomena  which  might 
have  been  regarded  only  as  extraordinary,  in  the  usual 
seasons  of  political  security,  should  now  be  interpreted 
by  the  superstitious  soothsayer  as  the  handwriting  on 
the  heavens,  by  which  the  God  of  the  Incas  proclaimed 
the  approaching  downfall  of  their  empire. 

Huayna  Capac  had,  as  usual  with  the  Peruvian 
princes,  a  multitude  of  concubines,  by  whom  he  left 
a  numerous  posterity.  The  heir  to  the  crown,  the 
son  of  his  lawful  wife  and  sister,  was  named  Huas- 
car.3  At  the  period  of  the  history  at  which  we  are 
now  arrived,  he  was  about  thirty  years  of  age.  Next 
to  the  heir-apparent,  by  another  wife,  a  cousin  of  the 
monarch's,  came  Manco  Capac,  a  young  prince  who 
•will  occupy  an  important  place  in  our  subsequent 
story.  But  the  best-beloved  of  the  Inca's  children 

3  Huascar,  in  the  Quichua  dialect,  signifies  "  a  cable."  The  reason 
of  its  being  given  to  the  heir-apparent  is  remarkable.  Huayna  Capac 
celebrated  the  birth  of  the  prince  by  a  festival,  in  which  he  introduced 
a  massive  gold  chain  for  the  nobles  to  hold  in  their  hands  as  they  per- 
formed their  national  dances.  The  chain  was  seven  hundred  feet  in 
length,  and  the  links  nearly  as  big  round  as  a  man's  wrist !  (See 
Zurate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  14. — Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte 
i,  lib.  9,  cap.  i.)  The  latter  writer  had  the  particulars,  he  tells  us, 
from  his  old  Inca  uncle, — who  seems  to  have  dealt  largely  in  the  mar- 
vellous ;  not  too  largely  for  his  audience,  however,  as  the  story  has 
been  circulated  without  scruple  by  most  of  the  Castilian  writers  both 
of  that  and  of  the  succeeding  age. 


332  CONQUEST    OF  PERU. 

was  Atahuallpa.  His  mother  was  the  daughter  of  the 
last  Scyri  of  Quito,  who  had  died  of  grief,  it  was 
said,  not  long  after  the  subversion  of  his  kingdom  by 
Huayna  Capac.  The  princess  was  beautiful,  and  the 
Inca,  whether  to  gratify  his  passion,  or,  as  the  Peru- 
vians say,  willing  to  make  amends  for  the  ruin  of  her 
parents,  received  her  among  his  concubines.  The 
historians  of  Quito  assert  that  she  was  his  lawful  wife  ; 
but  this  dignity,  according  to  the  usages  of  the  em- 
pire, was  reserved  for  maidens  of  the  Inca  blood. 

The  latter  years  of  Huayna  Capac  were  passed  in 
his  new  kingdom  of  Quito.  Atahuallpa  was  accord- 
ingly brought  up  under  his  own  eye,  accompanied 
him,  while  in  his  tender  years,  in  his  campaigns, 
slept  in  the  same  tent  with  his  royal  father,  and  ate 
from  the  same  plate.*  The  vivacity  of  the  boy,  his 
courage  and  generous  nature,  won  the  affections  of 
the  old  monarch  to  such  a  degree  that  he  resolved 
to  depart  from  the  established  usages  of  the  realm 
and  divide  his  empire  between  him  and  his  elder 
brother  Huascar.  On  his  death-bed  he  called  the 
great  officers  of  the  crown  around  him,  and  declared 
it  to  be  his  will  that  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Quito 
should  pass  to  Atahuallpa,  who  might  be  considered 
as  having  a  natural  claim  on  it,  as  the  dominion  of 
his  ancestors.  The  rest  of  the  empire  he  settled  on 
Huascar;  and  he  enjoined  it  on  the  two  brothers  to 
acquiesce  in  this  arrangement  and  to  live  in  amity 

4  "  Atabalipa  era  bien  quisto  de  los  Capitanes  viejos  de  su  Padre  y 
de  los  Soldados,  porque  andubo  en  la  guerra  en  su  ninez  yporque  el 
en  vida  le  mostro  tanto  amor  que  no  le  dejaba  comer  otra  cosa  que  lo 
que  61  le  daba  de  su  plato."  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  66. 


REIGN    OF   HUAYXA   CAP  AC. 


333 


with  each  other.  This  was  the  last  act  of  the  heroic 
monarch  ;  doubtless  the  most  impolitic  of  his  whole  life. 
With  his  dying  breath  he  subverted  the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  empire ;  and,  while  he  recommended  har- 
mony between  the  successors  to  his  authority,  he  left 
in  this  very  division  of  it  the  seeds  of  inevitable 
discord.5 

His  death  took  place,  as  seems  probable,  at  the 
close  of  1525,  not  quite  seven  years  before  Pizarro's 
arrival  at  Puna.6  The  tidings  of  his  decease  spread 
sorrow  and  consternation  throughout  the  land ;  for, 
though  stern  and  even  inexorable  to  the  rebel  and 
the  long-resisting  foe,  he  was  a  brave  and  magnani- 
mous monarch,  and  legislated  with  the  enlarged  views 
of  a  prince  who  regarded  every  part  of  his  domin- 
ions as  equally  his  concern.  The  people  of  Quito, 
flattered  by  the  proofs  which  he  had  given  of  prefer- 
ence for  them  by  his  permanent  residence  in  that 
country  and  his  embellishment  of  their  capital,  mani- 
fested unfeigned  sorrow  at  his  loss ;  and  his  sub- 

s  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  i,  lib.  8,  cap.  9. — Zarate, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i.cap.  12. — Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  65. — 
Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  201. 

6  The  precise  date  of  this  event,  though  so  near  the  time  of  the 
Conquest,  is  matter  of  doubt.  Balboa,  a  contemporary  with  the  Con- 
querors, and  who  wrote  at  Quito,  where  the  Inca  died,  fixes  it  at 
1525.  (Hist,  du  Perou,  chap.  14.)  Velasco,  another  inhabitant  of 
the  same  place,  after  an  investigation  of  the  different  accounts, 
comes  to  the  like  conclusion.  (Hist,  de  Quito,  torn.  i.  p.  232.)  Dr. 
Robertson,  after  telling  us  that  Huayna  Capac  died  in  1529,  speaks 
again  of  this  event  as  having  happened  in  1527.  (Conf.  America, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  25,  381.)  Any  one  who  has  been  bewildered  by  the 
chronological  snarl  of  the  ancient  chronicles  will  not  be  surprised  at 
meeting  occasionally  with  such  inconsistencies  in  a  writer  who  is 
obliged  to  take  them  as  his  guides. 


334  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

jects  at  Cuzco,  proud  of  the  glory  which  his  arms 
and  his  abilities  had  secured  for  his  native  land,  held 
him  in  no  less  admiration  ; 7  while  the  more  thought- 
ful and  the  more  timid,  in  both  countries,  looked 
with  apprehension  to  the  future,  when  the  sceptre 
of  the  vast  empire,  instead  of  being  swayed  by  an 
old  and  experienced  hand,  was  to  be  consigned  to 
rival  princes,  naturally  jealous  of  one  another,  and, 
from  their  age,  necessarily  exposed  to  the  unwhole- 
some influence  of  crafty  and  ambitious  counsellors. 
The  people  testified  their  regret  by  the  unwonted 
honors  paid  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased  Inca. 
His  heart  was  retained  in  Quito,  and  his  body,  em- 
balmed after  the  fashion  of  the  country,  was  trans- 
ported to  Cuzco,  to  take  its  place  in  the  great  temple 
of  the  Sun,  by  the  side  of  the  remains  of  his  royal 
ancestors.  His  obsequies  were  celebrated  with  san- 
guinary splendor  in  both  the  capitals  of  his  far-ex- 
tended empire ;  and  several  thousand  of  the  imperial 
concubines,  with  numerous  pages  and  officers  of  the 
palace,  are  said  to  have  proved  their  sorrow,  or  their 
superstition,  by  offering  up  their  own  lives,  that  they 
might  accompany  their  departed  lord  to  the  bright 
mansions  of  the  Sun.8 

For  nearly  five    years  after   the  death  of    Huayna 
Capac,  the  royal  brothers  reigned,  each  over  his  al- 

7  One  cannot  doubt  this  monarch's  popularity  with  the  female  part 
of  his  subjects,  at  least,  if,  as  the  historian  of  the  Incas  tells  us^"  he 
was  never  known  to  refuse  a  woman,  of  whatever  age  or  degree  she 
might  be,  any  favor  that  she  asked  of  him"  !     Com.  Real.,  Parte  i 
lib.  8,  cap.  7. 

8  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  65. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec. 
5,  lib.  3,  cap.  17. 


THE    IXC  A    BROTHERS. 


335 


lotted  portion  of  the  empire,  without  distrust  of  one 
another,  or,  at  least,  without  collision.  It  seemed  as 
if  the  wish  of  their  father  was  to  be  completely  real- 
ized, and  that  the  two  states  were  to  maintain  their 
respective  integrity  and  independence  as  much  as  if 
they  had  never  been  united  into  one.  But,  with  the 
manifold  causes  for  jealousy  and  -discontent,  and  the 
swarms  of  courtly  sycophants  who  would  find  their 
account  in  fomenting  these  feelings,  it  was  easy  to  see 
that  this  tranquil  state  of  things  could  not  long  en- 
dure. Nor  would  it  have  endured  so  long,  but  for  the 
more  gentle  temper  of  Huascar,  the  only  party  who 
had  ground  for  complaint.  He  was  four  or  five  years 
older  than  his  brother,  and  was  possessed  of  courage 
not  to  be  doubted  ;  but  he  was  a  prince  of  a  generous 
and  easy  nature,  and  perhaps,  if  left  to  himself,  might 
have  acquiesced  in  an  arrangement  which,  however 
unpalatable,  was  the  will  of  his  deified  father.  But 
Atahuallpa  was  of  a  different  temper.  Warlike,  am- 
bitious, and  daring,  he  was  constantly  engaged  in 
enterprises  for  the  enlargement  of  his  own  territory, 
though  his  crafty  policy  was  scrupulous  not  to  aim  at 
extending  his  acquisitions  in  the  direction  of  his  royal 
brother.  His  restless  spirit,  however,  excited  some 
alarm  at  the  court  of  Cuzco,  and  Huascar  at  length 
sent  an  envoy  to  Atahuallpa,  to  remonstrate  with  him 
on  his  ambitious  enterprises,  and  to  require  him  to 
render  him  homage  for  his  kingdom  of  Quito. 

This  is  one  statement.  Other  accounts  pretend  that 
the  immediate  cause  of  rupture  was  a  claim  instituted 
by  Huascar  for  the  territory  of  Tumebamba,  held  by 
his  brother  as  part  of  his  patrimonial  inheritance.  l\, 


336  CONQUEST   OP  PERU. 

matters  little  what  was  the  ostensible  ground  of  col- 
lision between  persons  placed  by  circumstances  in  so 
false  a  position  in  regard  to  one  another  that  collision 
must,  at  some  time  or  other,  inevitably  occur. 

The  commencement,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  course, 
of  hostilities  which  soon  broke  out  between  the  rival 
brothers  are  stated  with  irreconcilable  and,  consider- 
ing the  period  was  so  near  to  that  of  the  Spanish  in- 
vasion, with  unaccountable  discrepancy.  By  some  it 
is  said  that  in  Atahuallpa's  first  encounter  with  the 
troops  of  Cuzco  he  was  defeated  and  made  prisoner 
near  Tumebamba,  a  favorite  residence  of  his  father, 
in  the  ancient  territory  of  Quito  and  in  the  district 
of  Cafiaris.  From  this  disaster  he  recovered  by  a  for- 
tunate escape  from  confinement,  when,  regaining  his 
capital,  he  soon  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  numer- 
ous army,  led  by  the  most  able  and  experienced  cap- 
tains in  the  empire.  The  liberal  manners  of  the  young 
Atahuallpa  had  endeared  him  to  the  soldiers,  with 
whom,  as  we  have  seen,  he  served  more  than  one  cam- 
paign in  his  father's  lifetime.  'These  troops  were  the 
flower  of  the  great  army  of  the  Inca,  and  some  of  them 
had  grown  gray  in  his  long  military  career,  which  had 
left  them  at  the  north,  where  they  readily  transferred 
their  allegiance  to  the  young  sovereign  of  Quito.  They 
were  commanded  by  two  officers  of  great  considera- 
tion, both  possessed  of  large  experience  in  military 
affairs  and  high  in  the  confidence  of  the  late  Inca. 
One  of  them  was  named  Quizquiz ;  the  other,  who 
was  the  maternal  uncle  of  Atahuallpa,  was  called 
Challcuchima. 

With   these   practised   warriors   to   guide   him,   the 


CONTEST   FOR    THE    EMPIRE. 


337 


young  monarch  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  martial 
array  and  directed  his  march  towards  the  south.  He 
had  not  advanced  farther  than  Ambato,  about  sixty 
miles  distant  from  his  capital,  when  he  fell  in  with  a 
numerous  host  which  had  been  sent  against  him  by  his 
brother,  under  the  command  of  a  distinguished  chief- 
tain of  the  Inca  family.  A  bloody  battle  followed, 
which  lasted  the  greater  part  of  the  day ;  and  the 
theatre  of  combat  was  the  skirts  of  the  mighty  Chim- 
borazo.9  „ 

The  battle  ended  favorably  for  Atahuallpa,  and  the 
Peruvians  were  routed  with  great  slaughter  and  the 
loss  of  their  commander.  The  Prince  of  Quito  availed 
himself  of  his  advantage  to  push  forward  his  march 
until  he  arrived  before  the  gates  of  Tumebamba,  which 
city,  as  well  as  the  whole  district  of  Cafiaris,  though 
an  ancient  dependency  of  Quito,  had  sided  with  his 
rival  in  the  contest.  Entering  the  captive  city  like  a 
conqueror,  he  put  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword,  and 
razed  it  with  all  its  stately  edifices,  some  of  which  had 
been  reared  by  his  own  father,  to  the  ground.  He  car- 
ried on  the  same  war  of  extermination  as  he  marched 
through  the  offending  district  of  Cafiaris.  In  some 
places,  it  is  said,  bands  of  children,  as  well  as  of  older 
persons,  were  sent  out,  in  melancholy  procession,  with 

9  Garcilasso  denies  that  any  thing  but  insignificant  skirmishes  took 
place  before  the  decisive  action  fought  on  the  plains  of  Cuzco.  But 
Sarmiento,  who  gathered  his  accounts  of  these  events,  as  he  tells  us, 
from  the  actors  in  them,  walked  over  the  field  of  battle  at  Ambato, 
when  the  ground  was  still  covered  with  the  bones  of  the  slain  :  "  Yo 
he  pasado  por  este  Pueblo  y  he  visto  el  Lugar  donde  dicen  que  esta 
Batalla  se  dio,  y  cierto  segun  hay  la  osamenta  devieron  aun  de  morir 
mas  gente  de  la  que  cuentan."  Relacion,  MS.,  cap.  69. 
Peru. — VOL.  I. — P  29 


338  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

green  branches  in  their  hands,  to  deprecate  his  wrath ; 
but  the  vindictive  conqueror,  deaf  to  their  entreaties, 
laid  the  country  waste  with  fire  and  sword,  sparing  no 
man  capable  of  bearing  arms  who  fell  into  his  hands.10 
The  fate  of  Cafiaris  struck  terror  into  the  hearts  of 
his  enemies,  and  one  place  after  another  opened  its 
gates  to  the  victor,  who  held  on  his  triumphant  march 
towards  the  Peruvian  capital.  His  arms  experienced  a 
temporary  check  before  the  island  of  Puna,  whose  bold 
warriors  maintained  the  cause  of  his  brother.  After 
some  days  lost  before  this  place,  Atahuallpa  left  the 
contest  to  their  old  enemies,  the  people  of  Tumbez, 
who  had  early  given  in  their  adhesion  to  him,  while  he 
resumed  his  march  and  advanced  as  far  as  Caxamalca, 
about  seven  degrees  south.  Here  he  halted  with  a  de- 
tachment of  the  army,  sending  forward  the  main  body 
under  the  command  of  his  two  generals,  with  orders  to 
move  straight  upon  Cuzco.  He  preferred  not  to  trust 
himself  farther  in  the  enemy's  country,  where  a  defeat 
might  be  fatal.  By  establishing  his  quarters  at  Caxa- 
malca, he  would  be  able  to  support  his  generals  in  case 
of  a  reverse,  or,  at  worst,  to  secure  his  retreat  on 

10  "  Cuentan  muchos  Indies  a  quien  yo  lo  oi,  que  por  amansar  su 
ira,  mandaron  a  un  escuadron  grande  de  ninos  y  a  otro  de  hombres 
de  toda  edad,  que  saliesen  hasta  las  ricas  andas  donde  venia  con  gran 
pompa,  llevando  en  las  manos  ramos  verdes  y  ojas  de  palma,  y  que  le 
pidiesen  la  gracia  y  amistad  suya  para  el  pueblo,  sin  mirar  la  injuria 
pasada,  y  que  en  tantos  clamores  se  lo  suplicaron,  y  con  tanta  hu- 
mildad.que  bastara  quebrantar  corazones  de  piedra;  mas  poca  im- 
presion  hicieron  en  el  cruel  de  Atabalipa,  porque  dicen  que  mand6 
&  sus  capitanes  y  gentes  que  matasen  4  todos  aquellos  que  habian 
venido,  lo  cual  fue  hecho,  no  perdonando  sino  4  algunos  ninos  y 
4  las  mugeres  sagradas  del  Templo."  Sarmiento,  Relacion,  MS., 
cap.  70. 


CONTEST  FOR    THE    EMPIRE. 


339 


Quito  until  he  was  again  in  condition  to  renew  hos- 
tilities. 

The  two  commanders,  advancing  by  rapid  marches, 
at  length  crossed  the  Apurimac  River,  and  arrived 
within  a  short  distance  of  the  Peruvian  capital.  Mean- 
while, Huascar  had  not  been  idle.  On  receiving 
tidings  of  the  discomfiture  of  his  army  at  Ambato, 
he  made  every  exertion  to  raise  levies  throughout  the 
country.  By  the  advice,  it  is  said,  of  his  priests, — 
the  most  incompetent  advisers  in  times  of  danger, — he 
chose  to  await  the  approach  of  the  enemy  in  his  own 
capital ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  latter  had  arrived 
within  a  few  leagues  of  Cuzco  that  the  Inca,  taking 
counsel  of  the  same  ghostly  monitors,  sallied  forth  to 
give  him  battle. 

The  two  armies  met  on  the  plains  of  Quipaypan,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Indian  metropolis.  Their 
numbers  are  stated  with  the  usual  discrepancy  ;  but 
Atahuallpa's  troops  had  considerably  the  advantage 
in  discipline  and  experience,  for  many  of  Huascar's 
levies  had  been  drawn  hastily  together  from  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Both  fought,  however,  with  the 
desperation  of  men  who  felt  that  every  thing  was  at 
stake.  It  was  no  longer  a  contest  for  a  province,  but 
for  the  possession  of  an  empire.  Atahuallpa's  troops, 
flushed  with  recent  success,  fought  with  the  confidence 
of  those  who  relied  on  their  superior  prowess ;'  while 
the  loyal  vassals  of  the  Inca  displayed  all  the  self-de- 
votion of  men  who  held  their  own  lives  cheap  in  the 
service  of  their  master. 

The  fight  raged  with  the  greatest  obstinacy  from 
sunrise  to  sunset;  and  the  ground  was  covered  with 


340  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

heaps  of  the  dying  and  the  dead,  whose  bones  lay 
bleaching  on  the  battle-field  long  after  the  conquest 
by  the  Spaniards.  At  length,  fortune  declared  in 
favor  of  Atahuallpa,  or,  rather,  the  usual  result  of  su- 
perior discipline  and  military  practice  followed.  The 
ranks  of  the  Inca  were  thrown  into  irretrievable  dis- 
order, and  gave  way  in  all  directions.  The  conquer- 
ors followed  close' on  the  heels  of  the  flying.  Huas- 
car  himself,  among  the  latter,  endeavored  to  make  his 
escape  with  about  a  thousand  men  who  remained  round 
his  person.  But  the  royal  fugitive  was  discovered 
before  he  had  left  the  field ;  his  little  party  was  en- 
veloped by  clouds  of  the  enemy,  and  nearly  every 
one  of  the  devoted  band  perished  in  defence  of  their 
Inca.  Huascar  was  made  prisoner,  and  the  victorious 
chiefs  marched  at  once  on  his  capital,  which  they 
occupied  in  the  name  of  their  sovereign." 

These  events  occurred  in  the  spring  of  1532,  a  few 
months  before  the  landing  of  the  Spaniards.  The 
tidings  of  the  success  of  his  arms  and  the  capture  of 
his  unfortunate  brother  reached  Atahuallpa  at  Caxa- 
malca.  He  instantly  gave  orders  that  Huascar  should 
be  treated  with  the  respect  due  to  his  rank,  but  that 
he  should  be  removed  to  the  strong  fortress  of  Xauxa 
and  held  there  in  strict  confinement.  His  orders  did 
not  stop  here, — if  we  are  to  receive  the  accounts  of 
Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  himself  of  the  Inca  race,  and  by 
his  mother's  side  nephew  of  the  great  Huayna  Capac. 

11  Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica.  cap.  77.— Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  9. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn, 
iii.  p.  202. — Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  i,  cap.  12.— Sarmiento,  Rela- 
tion, MS.,  cap.  70. — Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 


CONTEST   FOR    THE    EMPIRE. 


341 


According  to  this  authority,  Atahuallpa  invited  the 
Inca  nobles  throughout  the  country  to  assemble  at 
Cuzco,  in  order  to  deliberate  on  the  best  means  of 
partitioning  the  empire  between  him  and  his  brother. 
When  they  had  met  in  the  capital,  they  were  sur- 
rounded by  the  soldiery  of  Quito  and  butchered  with- 
out mercy.  The  motive  for  this  perfidious  act  was  to 
exterminate  the  whole  of  the  royal  family,  who  might 
each  one  of  them  show  a  better  title  to  the  crown 
than  the  illegitimate  Atahuallpa.  But  the  massacre 
did  not  end  here.  The  illegitimate  offspring,  like 
himself,  half-brothers  of  the  monster,  all,  in  short, 
who  had  any  of  the  Inca  blood  in  their  veins,  were 
involved  in  it ;  and,  with  an  appetite  for  carnage  un- 
paralleled in  the  annals  of  the  Roman  Empire  or 
of  the  French  Republic,  Atahuallpa  ordered  all  the 
females  of  the  blood  royal,  his  aunts,  nieces,  and 
cousins,  to  be  put  to  death,  and  that,  too,  with  the 
most  refined  and  lingering  tortures.  To  give  greater, 
zest  to  his  revenge,  many  of  the  executions  took  place 
in  the  presence  of  Huascar  himself,  who  was  thus  com- 
pelled to  witness  the  butchery  of  his  own  wives  and 
sisters,  while,  in  the  extremity  of  anguish,  they  in  vain 
called  on  him  to  protect  them  !12 

"  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  9,  cap.  35-39. — "  A  las  Mu- 
geres,  Hermanas,  Tias,  Sobrinas,  Primas  Hermanas,  y  Madrastras 
de  Atahuallpa,  colgavan  de  los  Arboles,  y  de  muchas  Horcas  mui 
altas  que  hicieron  :  a  unas  colgaron  de  los  cabellos,  &  olras  por  debajo 
de  los  bra9os,  y  a  otras  de  otras  maneras  feas,  que  por  la  honestidad 
se  callan  :  davanles  sus  hijuelos,  que  los  tuviesen  en  bracos,  tenianlos 
hasta  que  se  les  caian,  y  se  aporreavan."  (Ibid.,  cap.  37.)  The 
variety  of  torture  shows  some  invention 'in  the  writer,  or,  more  prob- 
ably, in  the  writer's  uncle,  the  ancient  Inca,  the  raconteur  of  these 
Bluebeard  butcheries. 

29* 


342  CONQUEST    OF  PERU. 

Such  is  the  tale  told  by  the  historian  of  the  Incas, 
and  received  by  him,  as  he  assures  us,  from  his  mother 
and  uncle,  who,  being  children  at  the  time,  were  so 
fortunate  as  to  be  among  the  few  that  escaped  the 
massacre  of  their  house.13  And  such  is  the  account 
repeated  by  many  a  Castilian  writer  since,  without 
any  symptom  of  distrust.  But  a  tissue  of  unpro- 
voked atrocities  like  these  is  too  repugnant  to  the 
principles  of  human  nature — and,  indeed,  to  common 
sense — to  warrant  our  belief  in  them  on  ordinary 
testimony. 

The  annals  of  semi-civilized  nations  unhappily  show 
that  there  have  been  instances  of  similar  attempts  to 
extinguish  the  whole  of  a  noxious  race  which  had  be- 
come the  object  of  a  tyrant's  jealousy  ;  though  such 
an  attempt  is  about  as  chimerical  as  it  would  be  to 
extirpate  any  particular  species  of  plant  the  seeds  of 
which  had  been  borne  on  every  wind  over  the  country. 
But,  if  the  attempt  to  exterminate  the  Inca  race  was 
actually  made  by  Atahuallpa,  how  comes  it  that  so 
many  of  the  pure  descendants  of  the  blood  royal — 
nearly  six  hundred  in  number — are  admitted  by  the 
historian  to  have  been  in  existence  seventy  years  after 
the  imputed  massacre?14  Why  was  the  massacre,  in- 

»3  "  Las  crueldades,  que  Atahuallpa  en  los  de  la  Sangre  Real  hi9o. 
dire  de  Relacion  de  mi  Madre,  y  de  un  Hermano  suio,  que  se  llamd 
Don  Fernando  Huallpa  Tupac  Inca  Yupanqui,  que  entonces  eran 
Ninos  de  menos  de  diez  Anos."  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib. 
9,  cap.  14. 

M  This  appears  from  a  petition  for  certain  immunities,  forwarded  to 
Spain  in  1603,  and  signed  by  five  hundred  and  sixty-seven  Indians  of 
the  royal  Inca  race.  (Ibid.,  Parte  3,  lib.  9,  cap.  40.)  Oviedo  says 
that  Huayna  Capac  left  a  hundred  sons  and  daughters,  and  that  most 


TRIUMPH    OF  ATAHUALLPA. 


343 


stead  of  being  limited  to  the  legitimate  members  of 
the  royal  stock,  who  could  show  a  better  title  to  the 
crown  than  the  usurper,  extended  to  all,  however  re- 
motely or  in  whatever  way,  connected  with  the  race? 
Why  were  aged  women  and  young  maidens  involved 
in  the  proscription,  and  why  were  they  subjected  to 
such  refined  and  superfluous  tortures,  when  it  is  ob- 
vious that  beings  so  impotent  could  have  done  nothing 
to  provoke  the  jealousy  of  the  tyrant?  Why,  when 
so  many  were  sacrificed  from  some  vague  apprehen- 
sion of  distant  danger,  was  his  rival  Huascar,  together 
with  his  younger  brother  Manco  Capac,  the  two  men 
from  whom  the  conqueror  had  most  to  fear,  suffered 
to  live?  Why,  in  short,  is  the  wonderful  tale  not  re- 
corded by  others  before  the  time  of  Garcilasso,  and 
nearer  by  half  a  century  to  the  events  themselves  ? IS 

That  Atahuallpa  may  have  been  guilty  of  excesses, 
and  abused  the  rights  of  conquest  by  some  gratuitous 
acts  of  cruelty,  may  be  readily  believed ;  for  no  one 
who  calls  to  mind  his  treatment  of  the  Canaris — 
which  his  own  apologists  do  not  affect  to  deny'6 — 

of  them  "were  alive  at  the  time  of  his  writing :  ' '  Tubo  cien  hijos  y  hijas, 
y  la  mayor  parte  de  ellos  son  vivos."  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte 
3,  lib.  8,  cap.  9. 

'5  I  have  looked  in  vain  for  some  confirmation  of  this  story  in 
Oviedo,  Sarmiento,  Xerez,  Cieza  de  Leon,  Zarate,  Pedro  Pizarro,  Go- 
mara, — all  living  at  the  time, 'and  having  access  to  the  best  sources 
of  information,  and  all,  it  may  be  added,  disposed  to  do  stern  justice 
to  the  evil  qualities  of  the  Indian  monarch. 

16  No  one  of  the  apologists  of  Atahuallpa  goes  quite  so  far  as  Father 
Velasco,  who,  in  the  overflowings  of  his  loyalty  for  a  Quito  monarch, 
regards  his  massacre  of  the  Canaris  as  a  very  fair  retribution  for  their 
offences  :  "  Si  les  auteurs  dont  je  viens  de  parler  s'etaient  trouves  dans 
les  memes  circonstances  qu'Atahuallpa  et  avaient  eprouve  autant 


344  CONQUEST    OF    PERU. 

will  doubt  that  he  had  a  full  measure  of  the  vindictive 
temper  which  belongs  to 

"  Those  souls  of  fire,  and  Children  of  the  Sun, 
With  whom  revenge  was  virtue." 

But  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  this  and  the 
monstrous  and  most  unprovoked  atrocities  imputed  to 
him,  implying  a  diabolical  nature  not  to  be  admitted 
on  the  evidence  of  an  Indian  partisan,  the  sworn  foe 
of  his  house,  and  repeated  by  Castilian  chroniclers, 
who  may  naturally  seek,  by  blazoning  the  enormities 
of  Atahuallpa,  to  find  some  apology  for  the  cruelty  of 
their  countrymen  towards  him. 

The  news  of  the  great  victory  was  borne  on  the 
wings  of  the  wind  to  Caxamalca ;  and  loud  and  long 
was  the  rejoicing,  not  only  in  the  camp  of  Atahuallpa, 
but  in  the  town  and  surrounding  country ;  for  all  now 
came  in^  eager  to  offer  their  congratulations  to  the 
victor  and  do  him  homage.  The  prince  of  Quito  no 
longer  hesitated  to  assume  the  scarlet  borla,  the  dia- 
dem of  the  Incas.  His  triumph  was  complete.  He 
had  beaten  his  enemies  on  their  own  ground,  had 
taken  their  capital,  had  set  his  foot  on  the  neck  of  his 
rival,  and  won  for  himself  the  ancient  sceptre  of  the 
Children  of  the  Sun.  But  the  hour  of  triumph  was 
destined  to  be  that  of  his  deepest  humiliation.  Ata- 
huallpa was  not  one  of  those  to  whom,  in  the  language 
of  the  Grecian  bard,  "the  gods  are  willing  to  reveal 
themselves."  '7  He  had  not  read  the  handwriting  on 
d'offenses  graves  et  de  trahisons,  je  ne  croirai  jamais  qu'ils  eussent  agi 
autrement."  Hist,  de  Quito,  torn.  i.  p.  253. 

»7  "  Ov  yap  iru>  wovT«(7<ri  fleoi  <f>aivovran  fvapytts," 

OAYS.  «•,  V.  l6x. 


TRIUMPH    OF  ATAHUALLPA.  345 

the  heavens.  The  small  speck  which  the  clear-sighted 
eye  of  his  father  had  discerned  on  the  distant  verge  of 
the  horizon,  though  little  noticed  by  Atahuallpa,  intent 
on  the  deadly  strife  with  his  brother,  had  now  risen  high 
towards  the  zenith,  spreading  wider  and  wider,  till  it 
wrapped  the  skies  in  darkness  and  was  ready  to  burst 
in  thunders  on  the  devoted  nation. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  SPANIARDS  LAND  AT  TUMBEZ. — PIZARRO  RECON- 
NOITRES THE  COUNTRY. — FOUNDATION  OF  SAN  MI- 
GUEL.  MARCH  INTO  THE  INTERIOR. EMBASSY  FROM 

THE   INCA. ADVENTURES    ON    THE    MARCH. — ARRIVAL 

AT  THE   FOOT   OF   THE   ANDES. 

1532. 

WE  left  the  Spaniards  at  the  island  of  Puna,  pre- 
paring to  make  their  descent  on  the  neighboring  con- 
tinent at  Tumbez.  This  port  was  but  a  few  leagues 
distant,  and  Pizarro,  with  the  greater  part  of  his  fol- 
lowers, passed  over  in  the  ships,  while  a  few  others 
were  to  transport  the  commander's  baggage  and  the 
military  stores  on  some  of  the  Indian  balsas.  One  of 
the  latter  vessels  which  first  touched  the  shore  was  sur- 
rounded, and  three  persons  who  were  on  the  raft  were 
carried  off  by  the  natives  to  the  adjacent  woods  and 
there  massacred.  The  Indians  then  got  possession  of 
another  of  the  balsas,  containing  Pizarro's  wardrobe  ; 
but,  as  the  men  who  defended  it  raised  loud  cries  for 
help,  they  reached  the  ears  of  Hernando  Pizarro,  who, 
with  a  small  body  of  horse,  had  effected  a  landing 
some  way  farther  down  the  shore.  A  broad  tract  of 
miry  ground,  overflowed  at  high  water,  lay  between 
him  and  the  party  thus  rudely  assailed  by  the  natives. 
The  tide  was  out,  and  the  bottom  was  soft  and  danger- 
(346) 


THE    SPANIARDS   LAND   AT    TUMBEZ. 


347 


otis.  With  little  regard  to  the  danger,  however,  the 
bold  cavalier  spurred  his  horse  into  the  slimy  depths, 
and,  followed  by  his  men,  with  the  mud  up  to  their 
saddle-girths,  plunged  forward  into  the  midst  of  the 
marauders,  who,  terrified  by  the  strange  apparition  of 
the  horsemen,  fled  precipitately,  without  show  of  fight, 
to  the  neighboring  forests. 

This  conduct  of  the  natives  of  Tumbez  is  not  easy 
to  be  explained,  considering  the  friendly  relations 
maintained  with  the  Spaniards  on  their  preceding 
visit,  and  lately  renewed  in  the  island  of  Puna.  But 
Pizarro  was  still  more  astonished,  on  entering  their 
town,  to  find  it  not  only  deserted,  but,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  buildings,  entirely  demolished.  Four 
or  five  of  the  most  substantial  private  dwellings,  the 
great  temple,  and  the  fortress — and  these  greatly  dam- 
aged, and  wholly  despoiled  of  their  interior  decora- 
tions— alone  survived  to  mark  the  site  of  the  city  and 
attest  its  former  splendor.1  The  scene  of  desolation 
filled  the  conquerors  with  dismay ;  for  even  the  raw 
recruits,  who  had  never  visited  the  coast  before,  had 
heard  the  marvellous  stories  of  the  golden  treasures  of 
Tumbez,  and  they  had  confidently  looked  forward  to 
them  as  an  easy  spoil  after  all  their  fatigues.  But  the 
gold  of  Peru  seemed  only  like  a  deceitful  phantom, 
which,  after  beckoning  them  on  through  toil  and 
danger,  vanished  the  moment  they  attempted  to  grasp  it. 

1  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  185. — "  Aunque  lo 
del  tetnplo  del  Sol  en  quien  ,ellos  adoran  era  cosa  de  ver,  porque 
tenian  grandes  edificios,  y  todo  el  por  de  dentro  y  de  fuera  pintado  de 
grandes  pinturas  y  ricos  matizes  de  colores,  porque  los  hay  en  aquella 
tierra."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


348  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

Pi/arro  despatched  a  small  body  of  troops  in  pursuit 
of  the  fugitives ;  and,  after  some  slight  skirmishing, 
they  got  possession  of  several  of  the  natives,  and 
among  them,  as  it  chanced,  the  curaca  of  the  place. 
When  brought  before  the  Spanish  commander,  he  ex- 
onerated himself  from  any  share  in  the  violence  offered 
to  the  white  men,  saying  that  it  was  done  by  a  lawless 
party  of  his  people,  without  his  knowledge  at  the  time  ; 
and  he  expressed  his  willingness  to  deliver  them  up  to 
punishment,  if  they  could  be  detected.  He  explained 
the  dilapidated  condition  of  the  town  by  the  long  wars 
carried  on  with  the  fierce  tribes  of  Puna,  who  had  at 
length  succeeded  in  getting  possession  of  the  place 
and  driving  the  inhabitants  into  the  neighboring  woods 
and  mountains.  The  Inca,  to  whose  cause  they  were 
attached,  was  too  much  occupied  with  his  own  feuds  to 
protect  them  against  their  enemies. 

Whether  Pizarro  gave  any  credit  to  the  cacique's 
exculpation  of  himself  may  be  doubted.  He  dissembled 
his  suspicions,  however,  and,  as  the  Indian  lord  prom- 
ised obedience  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  his  vassals, 
the  Spanish  general  consented  to  take  no  further  notice 
of  the  affair.  He  seems  now  to  have  felt  for  the  first 
time,  in  its  full  force,  that  it  was  his  policy  to  gain  the 
good  will  of  the  people  among  whom  he  had  thrown 
himself  in  the  face  of  such  tremendous  odds.  It  was, 
perhaps,  the  excesses  of  which  his  men  had  been  guilty 
in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  expedition  that  had  shaken 
the  confidence  of  the  people  of  Tumbez  and  incited 
them  to  this  treacherous  retaliation. 

Pizarro  inquired  of  the  natives  who  now,  under 
promise  of  impunity,  came  into  the  camp,  what  had 


PIZARRO    RECONNOITRES    THE   COUNTRY. 


349 


become  of  his  two  followers  that  remained  with  them 
in  the  former  expedition.  The  answers  they  gave  were 
obscure  and  contradictory.  Some  said  they  had  died 
of  an  epidemic ;  others,  that  they  had  perished  in  the 
war  with  Puna ;  and  others  intimated  that  they  had 
lost  their  lives  in  consequence  of  some  outrage  at- 
tempted on  the  Indian  women.  It  was  impossible  to 
arrive  at  the  truth.  The  last  account  was  not  the  least 
probable.  But,  whatever  might  be  the  cause,  there 
was  no  doubt  they  had  both  perished. 

This  intelligence  spread  an  additional  gloom,  over 
the  Spaniards,  which  was  not  dispelled  by  the  flaming 
pictures  now  given  by  the  natives  of  the  riches  of  the 
land,  and  of  the  state  and  magnificence  of  the  monarch 
in  his  distant  capital  among  the  mountains.  Not  did 
they  credit  the  authenticity  of  a  scroll  of  paper  which 
Pizarro  had  obtained  from  an  Indian  to  whom  it  had 
been  delivered  by  one  of  the  white  men  left  in  the 
country.  "Know,  whoever  you  may  be,"  said  the 
writing,  "  that  may  chance  to  set  foot  in  this  country, 
that  it  contains  more  gold  and  silver  than  there  is  iron 
in  Biscay."  This  paper,  when  shown  to  the  soldiers, 
excited  only  their  ridicule,  as  a  device  of  their  captain 
to  keep  alive  their  chimerical  hopes.2 

Pizarro  now  saw  that  it  was  not  politic  to  protract 
his  stay  in  his  present  quarters,  where  a  spirit  of  dis- 
affection would  soon  creep  into  the  ranks  of  his  fql- 
i 

2  For  the  account  of  the  transactions  in  Tumbez,  see  Pedro  Pizarro, 
Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3, 
lib.  8,  cap.  i.— Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS.— Herrera,  Hist, 
general,  dec.  4.  lib.  9,  cap.  i.  2.— Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia, 
torn.  iii.  p.  185. 

Peru.— VOL.  I.  30 


350  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

lowers  unless  their  spirits  were  stimulated  by  novelty 
or  a  life  of  incessant  action.  Yet  he  felt  deeply  anx- 
ious to  obtain  more  particulars  than  he  had  hitherto 
gathered  of  the  actual  condition  of  the  Peruvian  em- 
pire, of  its  strength  and  resources,  of  the  monarch  who 
ruled  over  it,  and  of  his  present  situation.  He  was 
also  desirous,  before  taking  any  decisive  step  for  pene- 
trating the  country,  to  seek  out  some  commodious 
place  for  a  settlement,  which  might  afford  him  the 
means  of  a  regular  communication  with  the  colonies, 
and  a  place  of  strength,  on  which  he  himself  might 
retreat  in  case  of  disaster. 

He  decided,  therefore,  to  leave  part  of  his  company 
at  Tumbez,  including  those  who,  from  the  state  of 
their  health,  were  least  able  to  take  the  field,  and  with 
the  remainder  to  make  an  excursion  into  the  interior 
and  reconnoitre  the  land,  before  deciding  on  any  plan 
of  operations.  He  set  out  early  in  May,  1532,  and, 
keeping  along  the  more  level  regions  himself,  sent  a 
small  detachment  under  the  command  of  Hernando  de 
Soto  to  explore  the  skirts  of  the  vast  sierra. 

He  maintained  a  rigid  discipline  on  the  march,  com- 
manding his  soldiers  to  abstain  from  all  acts  of  violence, 
and  punishing  disobedience  in  the  most  prompt  and 
resolute  manner.3  The  natives  rarely  offered  resist- 
ance. When  they  did  so,  they  were  soon  reduced, 
and  Pizarro,  far  from  adopting  vindictive  measures, 
was  open  to  the  first  demonstrations  of  submission. 

3  "  Mando  el  Gobernador  por  pregon  e  so  graves  penas  que  no  le 
fuese  hecha  fuerza  ni  descortesia,  6  que  se  les  hiciese  muy  buen  trata- 
miento  por  los  Espanoles  e  sus  criados."  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias. 
MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  2. 


ri/.ARRO    RECOXXOITRES    THE   COUXTRY. 


35' 


By  this  lenient  and  liberal  policy  he  soon  acquired  a 
name  among  the  inhabitants  which  effaced  the  unfavor- 
able impressions  made  of  him  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
campaign.  The  natives,  as  he  marched  through  the 
thick-settled  hamlets  which  sprinkled  the  level  region 
between  the  Cordilleras  and  the  ocean,  welcomed  him 
with  rustic  hospitality,  providing  good  quarters  for  his 
troops,  and  abundant  supplies,  which  cost  but  little  in 
the  prolific  soil  of  the  tierra  caliente.  Everywhere 
Pizarro  made  proclamation  that  he  came  in  the  name 
of  the  Holy  Vicar  of  God  and  of  the  sovereign  of 
Spain,  requiring  the  obedience  of  the  inhabitants  as 
true  children  of  the  Church  and  vassals  of  his  lord  and 
master.  And,  as  the  simple  people  made  no  opposi- 
tion to  a  formula  of  which  they  could  not  comprehend 
a  syllable,  they  were  admitted  as  good  subjects  of  the 
crown  of  Castile,  and  their  act  of  homage — or  what 
was  readily  interpreted  as  such — was  duly  recorded  and 
attested  by  the  notary.4 

At  the  expiration  of  some  three  or  four  weeks  spent 
in  reconnoitring  the  country,  Pizarro  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  most  eligible  site  for  his  new  settle- 
ment was  in  the  rich  valley  of  Tangarala,  thirty  leagues 
south  of  Tumbez,  traversed  by  more  than  one  stream 

<  "  E  mandabales  notificar  6  dar  a  entender  con  las  lenguas  el  re- 
querimiento  que  su  Magestad  manda  que  se  les  haga  a  los  Indies  para 
traellos  en  conocimiento  de  nuestra  Santa  fe  catolica,  y  requiriendoles 
con  lapaz,  e  queobedezcan  a  la  I glesia  Catolica  e  Apostolica  de  Roma, 
e  en  lo  temporal  den  la  obediencia  a  su  Magestad  e  &  los  Reyes  sus 
succesores  en  los  regnos  de  Castilla  i  de  Leon  ;  respondieron  qui  asi 
lo  querian  £  harian,  guardarian  e  cumplirian  enteramente ;  6  el 
Gobernador  los  recibio  por  tales  vasallos  de  sus  Magestades  por  auto 
publico  de  notaries."  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  ubi  supra.- 


..352  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

that  opens  a  communication  with  the  ocean.  To  this 
spot,  accordingly,  he  ordered  the  men  left  at  Tumbez 
to  repair  at  once  in  their  vessels ;  and  no  sooner  had 
they  arrived  than  busy  preparations  were  made  for 
building  up  the  town  in  a  manner  suited  to  the  wants 
of  the  colony.  Timber  was  procured  from  the  neigh- 
boring woods,  stones  were  dragged  from  their  quar- 
ries, and  edifices  gradually  rose,  some  of  which  made 
pretensions  to  strength,  if  not  to  elegance.  Among 
them  were  a  church,  a  magazine  for  public  stores,  a 
hall  of  justice,  and  a  fortress.  A  municipal  govern- 
ment was  organized,  consisting  of  regidores,  alcaldes, 
and  the  usual  civic  functionaries.  The  adjacent  terri- 
tory was  parcelled  out  among  the  residents,  and  each 
colonist  had  a  certain  number  of  the  natives  allotted 
to  assist  him  in  his  labors  ;  for,  as  Pizarro's  secretary 
remarks,  "  it  being  evident  that  the  colonists  could  not 
support  themselves  without  the  services  of  the  Indians, 
the  ecclesiastics  and  the  leaders  of  the  expedition  all 
agreed  that  a  rcpartimiento  of  the  natives  would  serve 
the  cause  of  religion,  and  tend  greatly  to  their  spiritual 
welfare,  since  they  would  thus  have  the  opportunity  of 

being  initiated  in  the  true  faith."  * 

». 

s  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.— Conq.  i  Pob.  del  Piru.  MS. 
— Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  55.— Relacion  del  primer  Descub., 
MS. — "  Porque  los  Vecinos,  sin  aiuda  i  servicios  de  los  Naturales  no 
se  podian  sostener,  ni  poblarse  el  Pueblo.  ...  A  esta  causa,  con 
acuerdo  de  el  Religiose,  i  de  los  Oficiales,  que  les  parecio  convenir  asi 
al  servicio  de  Dios,  i  bien  de  los  Naturales,  el  Gobernador  deposito 
los  Caciques,  i  Indies  en  los  Vecinos  de  este  Pueblo,  porque  los 
aiudasen  a  sostener,  i  los  Christianos  los  doctrinasen  en  nuestra  Santa 
Fe,  conforme  &  los  Mandamientos  de  su  Magestad."  Xerez,  Conq. 
del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  187. 


FOC.Y  DAT/ON    OF  SAN  MIGUEL. 


353 


Having  made  these  arrangements  with  such  conscien- 
tious regard  to  the  welfare  of  the  benighted  heathen, 
Pizarro  gave  his  infant  city  the  name  of  San  Miguel, 
in  acknowledgment  of  the  service  rendered  him  by 
that  saint  in  his  battles  with  the  Indians  of  Puna.  The 
site  originally  occupied  by  the  settlement  was  after- 
wards found  to  be  so  unhealthy  that  it  was  abandoned 
for  another  on  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  Piura.  The 
town  is  still  of  some  note  for  its  manufactures,  though 
dwindled  from  its  ancient  importance ;  but  the  name 
of  San  Miguel  de  Piura,  which  it  bears,  still  commemo- 
rates the  foundation  of  the  first  European  colony  in  the 
empire  of  the  Incas. 

Before  quitting  the  new  settlement,  Pizarro  caused 
the  gold  and  silver  ornaments  which  he  had  obtained 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  to  be  melted  down 
into  one  mass,  and  a  fifth  to  be  deducted  for  the 
crown.  The  remainder,  which  belonged  to  the  troops, 
he  persuaded  them  to  relinquish  for  the  present,  under 
the  assurance  of  being  repaid  from  the  first  spoils  that 
fell  into  their  hands.6  With  these  funds,  and  other 
articles  collected  in  the  course  of  the  campaign,  he 
sent  back  the  vessels  to  Panama.  The  gold  was  applied 
to  paying  off  the  ship-owners  and  those  who  had  fur- 
nished the  stores  for  the  expedition.  That  he  should 
so  easily  have  persuaded  his  men  to  resign  present 
possessions  for  a  future  contingency  is  proof  that  the 
spirit  of  enterprise  was  renewed  in  their  bosoms  in  all 

6  "  E  sacado  el  quinto  para  su  Magestad,  lo  restante  que  pertenecio 

al  Egercito  de  la  Conquista,  el  Gobernador  le  tomo  prestado  de  los 

companeros  para  se  lo  paga  del  primer  oro  que  se  obiese."     Oviedo, 

Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3.  lib.  8,  cap.  2. 

30* 


» 

L 

^ 


its  former  vigor,  and  that  they  looked  forward  with 
the  same  buoyant  confidence  to  the  results. 

In    his   late    tour  of  observation  the  Spanish  com- 
mander had  gathered  much  important  intelligence  in 
regard  to  the  state  of  the  kingdom.     He  had  ascer- 
tained  the   result   of  the   struggle   between   the  Inca 
brothers,  and  that  the  victor  now  lay  with  his  army 
)       encamped  at  the  distance  of  only  ten  or  twelve  days' 
I       journey  from  San  Miguel.     The  accounts  he  heard  of 
^     the  opulence  and  power  of  that  monarch,  and  of  his 
\\  great  southern  capital,  perfectly  corresponded  with  the 
<Jfg  general  rumors  before  received,  and  contained,  there - 
0T     fore,  something  to  stagger  the  confidence,  as  well  as  to 
G     stimulate  the  cupidity,  of  the  invaders. 

Pizarro  would  gladly  have  seen  his  little  army 
strengthened  by  reinforcements,  however  small  the 
amount,  and  on  that  account  postponed  his  departure 
»  for  several  weeks.  But  no  reinforcement  arrived  ;  and, 
VI  as  he  received  no  further  tidings  from  his  associates, 
he  judged  that  longer  delay  would  probably  be  at- 
tended with  evils  greater  than  those  to  be  encountered 
on  the  march  ;  that  discontents  would  inevitably  spring 
up  in  a  life  of  inaction,  and  the  strength  and  spirits 
of  the  soldier  sink  under  the  enervating  influence  of 
a  tropical  climate.  Yet  the  force  at  his  command, 
amounting  to  less  than  two  hundred  soldiers  in  all, 
after  reserving  fifty  for  the  protection  of  the  new  set- 
tlement, seemed  but  a  small  one  for  the  conquest  of 
arr  empire.  He  might,  indeed,  instead  of  marching 
against  the  Inca,  take  a  southerly  direction  towards 
the  rich  capital  of  Cuzco.  But  this  would  only  be  to 
postpone  the  hour  of  reckoning.  For  in  what  quarter 


MARCH  INTO  THE 

of  the  empire  could  he  hope  to  set  his  foot,  where  the 
arm  of  its  master  would  not  reach  him?  By  such  a 
course,  moreover,  he  would  show  his  own  distrust  of 
himself.  He  would  shake  that  opinion  of  his  invin- 
cible prowess  which  he  had  hitherto  endeavored  to 
impress  on  the  natives,  and  which  constituted  a  great 
secret  of  his  strength ;  which,  in  short,  held  sterner 
sway  over  the  mind  than  the  display  of  numbers  and 
mere  physical  force.  Worse  than  all,  such  a  course 
would  impair  the  confidence  of  his  troops  in  them- 
selves and  their  reliance  on  himself.  This  would  be 
to  palsy  the  arm  of  enterprise  at  once.  It  was  not  to 
be  thought  of. 

But,  while  Pizarro  decided  to  march  into  the  inte- 
rior, it  is  doubtful  whether  he  had  formed  any  more 
definite  plan  of  action.  We  have  no  means  of  know- 
ing his  intentions,  at  this  distance  of  time,  otherwise 
than  as  they  are  shown  by  his  actions.  Unfortunately, 
he  could  not  write,  and  he  has  left  no  record,  like  the 
inestimable  Commentaries  of  Cortes,  to  enlighten  us 
as  to  his  motives.  His  secretary,  and  some  of  his 
companions  in  arms,  have  recited  his  actions  in  de- 
tail ;  but  the  motives  which  led  to  them  they  were  not 
always  so  competent  to  disclose. 

It  is  possible  that  the  Spanish  general,  even  so  early 
as  the  period  of  his  residence  at  San  Miguel,  may  have 
meditated  some  daring  stroke,  some  effective  coup-de- 
main,  which,  like  that  of  Cortes  when  he  carried  off 
the  Aztec  monarch  to  his  quarters,  might  strike  terror 
into  the  hearts  of  the  people  and  at  once  decide  the 
fortunes  of  the  day.  It  is  more  probable,  however, 
that  he  now  only  proposed  to  present  himself  before 


356  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

the  Inca  as  the  peaceful  representative  of  a  brother 
monarch,  and  by  these  friendly  demonstrations  disarm 
any  feeling  of  hostility,  or  even  of  suspicion.  When 
once  in  communication  with  the  Indian  prince,  he 
could  regulate  his  future  course  by  circumstances. 

On  the  24th  of  September,  1532,  five  months  after 
landing  at  Tumbez,  Pizarro  marched  out  at  the  head 
of  his  little  body  of  adventurers  from  the  gates  of  San 
Miguel,  having  enjoined  it  on  the  colonists  to  treat 
their  Indian  vassals  with  humanity  and  to  conduct 
themselves  in  such  a  manner  as  would  secure  the  good 
will  of  the  surrounding  tribes.  Their  own  existence, 
and  with  it  the  safety  of  the  army  and  the  success  of 
the  undertaking,  depended  on  this  course.  In  the 
place  were  to  remain  the  royal  treasurer,  the  veedor, 
or  inspector  of  metals,  and  other  officers  of  the  crown  ; 
and  the  command  of  the  garrison  was  intrusted  to  the 
contador,  Antonio  Navarro.7  Then,  putting  himself 
at  the  head  of  his  troops,  the  chief  struck  boldly  into 
the  heart  of  the  country  in  the  direction  where,  as  he 
was  informed,  lay  the  camp  of  the  Inca.  It  was  a 
daring  enterprise,  thus  to  venture  with  a  handful  of 
followers  into  the  heart  of  a  powerful  empire,  to  pre- 
sent himself  face  to  face  before  the  Indian  monarch  in 
his  own  camp,  encompassed  by  the  flower  of  his  vic- 
torious army  !  Pizarro  had  already  experienced  more 
than  once  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  his  ground 
against  the  rude  tribes  of  the  north,  so  much  inferior 
in  strength  and  numbers  to  the  warlike  legions  of 

7  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  187. — Pedro  Pi- 
zarro, Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS..  Parte 
3,  lib.  8,  cap.  10. 


MARCH   INTO    THE    INTERIOR.  357 

Peru.  But  the  hazard  of  the  game,  as  I  have  already 
more  than  once  had  occasion  to  remark,  constituted 
its  great  charm  with  the  Spaniard.  The  brilliant 
achievements  of  his  countrymen,  on  the  like  occa- 
sions, with  means  so  inadequate,  inspired  him  with 
confidence  in  his  own  good  star,  and  this  confidence 
was  one  source  of  his  success.  Had  he  faltered  for  a 
moment,  had  he  stopped  to  calculate  chances,  he  must 
inevitably  have  failed  ;  for  the  odds  were  too  great  to 
be  combated  by  sober  reason.  They  were  only  to  be 
met  triumphantly  by  the  spirit  of  the  knight-errant. 

After  crossing  the  smooth  waters  of  the  Piura,  the 
little  army  continued  to  advance  over  a  level  district 
intersected  by  streams  that  descended  from  the  neiglv 
boring  Cordilleras.  The  face  of  the  country  was 
shagged  over  with  forests  of  gigantic  growth,  and  oc- 
casionally traversed  by  ridges  of  barren  land,  that 
seemed  like  shoots  of  the  adjacent  Andes,  breaking 
up  the  surface  of  the  region  into  little  sequestered 
valleys  of  singular  loveliness.  The  soil,  though  rarely 
watered  by  the  rains  of  heaven,  was  naturally  rich, 
and  wherever  it  was  refreshed  with  moisture,  as  on 
the  margins  of  the  streams,  it  was  enamelled  with  the 
brightest  verdure.  The  industry  of  the  inhabitants, 
moreover,  had  turned  these  streams  to  the  best  ac- 
count, and  canals  and  aqueducts  were  seen  crossing 
the  low  lands  in  all  directions,  and  spreading  over 
the  country,  like  a  vast  net-work,  diffusing  fertility 
and  beauty  around  them.  The  air  was  scented  with 
the  sweet  odors  of  flowers,  and  everywhere  the  eye 
was  refreshed  by  the  sight  of  orchards  laden  with  un- 
known fruits,  and  of  fields  waving  with  yellow  grain 


358  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

and  rich  in  luscious  vegetables  of  every  description 
that  teem  in  the  sunny  clime  of  the  equator.  The 
Spaniards  were  among  a  people  who  had  carried  the 
refinements  of  husbandry  to  a  greater  extent  than  any 
yet  found  on  the  American  continent ;  and,  as  they 
journeyed  through  this  paradise  of  plenty,  their  con- 
dition formed  a  pleasing  contrast  to  what  they  had 
before  endured  in  the  dreary  wilderness  of  the  man- 
groves. 

Everywhere,  too,  they  were  received  with  confiding 
hospitality  by  the  simple  people  ;  for  which  they  were 
no  doubt  indebted,  in  a  great  measure,  to  their  own 
inoffensive  deportment-.  Every  Spaniard  seemed  to  be 
aware  that  his  only  chance  of  success  lay  in  conciliating 
the  good  opinion  of  the  inhabitants  among  whom  he 
had  so  recklessly  cast  his  fortunes.  In  most  of  the 
hamlets,  and  in  every  place  of  considerable  size,  some 
fortress  was  to  be  found,  or  royal" caravansary,  destined 
for  the  Inca  on  his  progresses,  the  ample  halls  of  which 
furnished  abundant  accommodations  for  the  Spaniards ; 
who  were  thus  provided  with  quarters  along  their  route 
at  the  charge  of  the  very  government  which  they  were 
preparing  to  overturn.8 

On  the  fifth  day  after  leaving  San  Miguel,  Pizarro 
halted  in  one  of  these  delicious  valleys,  to  give  his 
troops  repose  and  to  make  a  more  complete  inspec- 
tion of  them.  Their  number  amounted  in  all  to  one 
hundred  and  seventy-seven,  of  which  sixty-seven  were 
cavalry.  He  mustered  only  three  arquebusiers  in  his 

8  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  4.— Naharro, 
Relation  sumaria,  MS.— Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS.— Relacion  del 
primer  Descub.,  MS. 


MARCH   INTO    THE    INTERIOR. 


359 


whole  company,  and  a  few  crossbow-men,  altogether  not 
exceeding  twenty.9  The  troops  were  tolerably  well 
equipped,  and  in  good  condition.  But  the  watchful 
eye  of  their  commander  noticed  with  uneasiness  that, 
notwithstanding  the  general  heartiness  in  the  cause 
manifested  by  his  followers,  there  were  some  among 
them  whose  countenances  lowered  with  discontent, 
and  who,  although  they  did  not  give  vent  to  it  in  open 
murmurs,  were  far  from  moving  with  their  wonted 
alacrity.  He  was  aware  that  if  this  spirit  became  con- 
tagious it  would  be  the  ruin  of  the  enterprise;  and  he 
thought  it  best  to  exterminate  the  gangrene  at  once, 
and  at  whatever  cost,  than  to  wait  until  it  had  infected 
the  whole  system.  He  came  to  an  extraordinary  reso- 
lution. 

Calling  his  men  together,  he  told  them  that  "a 
crisis  had  now  arrived  in  their  affairs,  which  it  de- 
manded all  their  courage  to  meet.  No  man  should 
think  of  going  forward  in  the  expedition  who  could 
not  do  so  with  his  whole  heart,  or  who  had  the  least 
misgiving  as  to  its  success.  If  any  repented  of  his 
share  in  it,  it  was  not  too  late  to  turn  back.  San 
Miguel  was  but  poorly  garrisoned,  and  he  should  be 
glad  to-  see  it  in  greater  strength.  Those  who  chose 
might  return  to  this  place,  and  they  should  be  entitled 
to  the  same  proportion  of  lands  and  Indian  vassals  as 

s  There  is  less  discrepancy  in  the  estimate  of  the  Spanish  force  here 
than  usual.  The  paucity  of  numbers  gave  less  room  for  it.  No  ac- 
count carries  them  as  high  as  two  hundred.  I  have  adopted  that  of 
the  secretary  Xerez  (Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  187),  who 
has  been  followed  by  Oviedo  (Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  i, 
cap.  3)  and  by  the  judicious  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  I. 
cap.  2. 


360  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

the  present  residents.  With  the  rest,  were  they  few  or 
many,  who  chose  to  take  their  chance  with  him,  he 
should  pursue  the  adventure  to  the  end."  I0 

It  was  certainly  a  remarkable  proposal  for  a  com- 
mander who  was  ignorant  of  the  amount  of  disaffection 
in  his  ranks,  and  who  could  not  safely  spare  a  single 
man  from  his  force,  already  far  too  feeble  for  the  un- 
dertaking. Yet,  by  insisting  on  the  wants  of  the  little 
colony  of  San  Miguel,  he  afforded  a  decent  pretext  for 
the  secession  of  the  malecontents,  and  swept  away  the 
barrier  of  shame  which  might  have  still  held  them  in 
the  camp.  Notwithstanding  the  fair  opening  thus 
afforded,  there  were  but  few,  nine  in  all,  who  availed 
themselves  of  the  general's  permission.  Four  of  these 
belonged  to  the  infantry,  and  five  to  the  horse.  The 
rest  loudly  declared  their  resolve  to  go  forward  with 
their  brave  leader ;  and,  if  there  were  some  whose 
voices  were  faint  amidst  the  general  acclamation,  they 
at  least  relinquished  the  right  of  complaining  hereafter, 
since  they  had  voluntarily  rejected  the  permission  to 
return."  This  stroke  of  policy  in  their  sagacious  cap- 
tain was  attended  with  the  best  effects.  He  had  win- 
nowed out  the  few  grains  of  discontent  which,  if  left 
to  themselves,  might  have  fermented  in  secret  till  the 

10  "  Que  todos  los  que  quiriesen  bol verse  a  la  ciudad  de  San  Miguel 
y  avecindarse  alii  demas  de  los  vecinos  que  alii  quedaban  el  les  de- 
positaria  repartimientosde  Indies  con  que  se  sostubiesen  comolo  habia 
hecho  con  los  otros  vecinos;  e  que  con  los  Espanoles  que  quedasen, 
pocos  6  muchos,  iria  a  conquistar  e  pacificar  la  tierra  en  demanda  y 
persecucion  del  camino  que  llevaba."  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  3. 

«  Ibid.,  MS.,  loc.  cit.— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  i.  cap.  2. 
— Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  187. 


MARCH   LVTO    THE    INTERIOR.  361 

whole  mass  had  swelled  into  mutiny.  Cortes  had  com- 
pelled his  men  to  go  forward  heartily  in  his  enterprise 
by  burning  their  vessels  and  thus  cutting  off  the  only 
means  of  retreat.  Pizarro,  on  the  other  hand,  threw 
open  the  gates  to  the  disaffected  and  facilitated  their 
departure.  Both  judged  right,  under  their  peculiar 
circumstances,  and  both  were  perfectly  successful. 

Feeling  himself  strengthened,  instead  of  weakened, 
by  his  loss,  Pizarro  now  resumed  his  march,  and  on  the 
second  day  arrived  before  a  place  called  Zaran,  situated 
in  a  fruitful  valley  among  the  mountains.  Some  of 
the  inhabitants  had  been  drawn  off  to  swell  the  levies 
of  Atahuallpa.  The  Spaniards  had  repeated  experi- 
ence on  their  march  of  the  oppressive  exactions  of  the 
Inca,  who  had  almost  depopulated  some  of  the  valleys 
to  obtain  reinforcements  for  his  army.  The  curaca  of 
the  Indian  town  where  Pizarro  now  arrived  received 
him  with  kindness  and  hospitality,  and  the  troops  were 
quartered  as  usual  in  one  of  the  royal  tambos  or  cara- 
vansaries, which  were  found  in  all  the  principal  places." 

Yet  the  Spaniards  saw  no  signs  of  their  approach  to 
the  royal  encampment,  though  more  time  had  already 
elapsed  than  was  originally  allowed  for  reaching  it. 
Shortly  before  entering  Zaran,  Pizarro  had  heard  that 
a  Peruvian  garrison  was  established  in  a  place  called 
Caxas,  lying  among  the  hills,  at  no  great  distance  from 
his  present  quarters.  He  immediately  despatched  a 
small  party  under  Hernando  de  Soto  in  that  direction, 
to  reconnoitre  the  ground,  and  bring  him  intelligence 
of  the  actual  state  of  things,  at  Zaran,  where  he  would 
halt  until  his  officer's  return. 

"  Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. 
Peru. — VOL.  I. — Q          31 


362  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

Day  after  day  passed  on,  and  a  week  had  elapsed 
before  tidings  were  received  of  his  companions,  and 
Pizarro  was  becoming  seriously  alarmed  for  their  fate, 
when  on  the  eighth  morning  Soto  appeared,  bringing 
with  him  an  envoy  from  the  Inca  himself.  He  was  a 
person  of  rank,  and  was  attended  by  several  followers 
of  inferior  condition.  He  had  met  the  Spaniards  at 
Caxas,  and  now  accompanied  them  on  their  return,  to 
deliver  his  sovereign's  message,  with  a  present  to  the 
Spanish  commander.  The  present  consisted  of  two 
fountains,  made  of  stone,  in  the  form  of  fortresses ; 
some  fine  stuffs  of  woollen  embroidered  with  gold 
and  silver ;  and  a  quantity  of  goose-flesh,  dried  and 
seasoned  in  a  peculiar  manner,  and  much  used  as  3 
perfume,  in  a  pulverized  state,  by  the  Peruvian  nobles.^ 
The  Indian  ambassador  came  charged  also  with  his 
master's  greeting  to  the  strangers,  whom  Atahuallpa 
welcomed  to  his  country  and  invited  to  visit  him  in 
his  camp  among  the  mountains.'4 

»3  "  Dos  Fortale9as,  a  manera  de  Fuente,  figuradas  en  Piedra,  con 
que  beba,  i  dos  cargas  de  Patos  secos,  desollados,  para  que  hechos 
polvos,  se  sahume  con  ellos,  porque  asi  se  usa  entre  los  Senores  de  su 
Tierra :  i  que  le  embiaba  k  decir,  que  el  tiene  voluntad  de  ser  su 
Amigo,  i  esperalle  de  Paz  en  Caxamalca."  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru, 
ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  189. 

»4  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las 
Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  3. — Relacion  del  primer  Descub., 
MS. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  189. — Garcilasso 
de  la  Vega  tells  us  that  Atahuallpa's  envoy  addressed  the  Spanish 
commander  in  the  most  humble  and  deprecatory  manner,  as  Son  of 
the  Sun  and  of  the  great  God  Viracocha.  He  adds  that  he  was  loaded 
with  a  prodigious  present  of  all  kinds  of  game,  living  and  dead,  gold 
and  silver  vase's,  emeralds,  turquoises,  etc.,  etc.,  enough  to  furnish  out 
the  finest  chapter  of  the  Arabian  Nights.  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  2,  lib. 
I,  cap.  19.)  It  is  extraordinary  that  none  of  the  Conquerors,  who 


EMBASSY  FROM    THE    INC  A.  363 

Pizarro  well  understood  that  the  Inca's  object  in 
this  diplomatic  visit  was  less  to  do  him  courtesy  than 
to  inform  himself  of  the  strength  and  condition  of 
the  invaders.  But  he  was  well  pleased  with  the  em- 
bassy, and  dissembled  his  consciousness  of  its  real 
purpose.  He  caused  the  Peruvian  to  be  entertained 
in  the  best  manner  the  camp  could  afford,  and  paid 
him  the  respect,  says  one  of  the  Conquerors,  due  to 
the  ambassador  of  so  great  a  monarch. 's  Pizarro 
urged  him  to  prolong  his  visit  for  some  days,  which 
the  Indian  envoy  declined,  but  made  the  most  of  his 
time  while  there,  by  gleaning  all  the  information  he 
could  in  respect  to  the  use  of  every  strange  article 
which  he  saw,  as  well  as  the  object  of  the  white 
men's  visit  to  the  land,  and  the  quarter  whence  they 
came. 

The  Spanish  captain  satisfied  his  curiosity  in  all  these 
particulars.  The  intercourse  with  the  natives,  it  may 
be  here  remarked,  was  maintained  by  means  of  two 
of  the  youths  who  had  accompanied  the  Conquerors 
on  their  return  home  from  their  preceding  voyage. 
They  had  been  taken  by  Pizarro  to  Spain,  and,  as 
much  pains  had  been  bestowed  on  teaching  them  the 
Castilian,  they  now  filled  the  office  of  interpreters  and 
opened  an  easy  communication  with  their  countrymen. 

had  a  quick  eye  for  these  dainties,  should  allude  to  them.  One  can- 
not but  suspect  that  the  "  old  uncle"  was  amusing  himself  at  his  young 
nephew's  expense, — and,  as  it  has  proved,  at  the  expense  of  most  of 
his  readers,  who  receive  the  Inca's  fairy-tales  as  historic  facts. 

'5  "  I  mand6,  que  le  diesen  de  comer  a  el,  i  a  los  que  con  el  venian, 
i  todo  lo  que  huviesen  menester,  i  fuesen  bien  aposentados,  como 
Embajadores  de  tan  Gran  Senor."  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia, 
torn.  iii.  p.  189. 


364  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

It  was  of  inestimable  service ;  and  well  did  the  Span- 
ish commander  reap  the  fruits  of  his  forecast.16 

On  the  departure  of  the  Peruvian  messenger,  Pizarro 
presented  him  with  a  cap  of  crimson  cloth,  some  cheap 
but  showy  ornaments  of  glass,  and  other  toys,  which 
he  had  brought  for  the  purpose  from  Castile.  He 
charged  the  envoy  to  tell  his  master  that  the  Span- 
iards came  from  a  powerful  prince  who  dwelt  far  be- 
yond the  waters ;  that  they  had  heard  much  of  the 
fame  of  Atahuallpa's  victories,  and  were  come  to  pay 
their  respects  to  him,  and  to  offer  their  services  by 
aiding  him  with  their  arms  against  his  enemies ;  and 
he  might  be  assured  they  would  not  halt  on  the  road 
longer  than  was  necessary,  before  presenting  them- 
selves before  him. 

Pizarro  now  received  from  Soto  a  full  account  of 
his  late  expedition.  That  chief,  on  entering  Caxas, 
found  the  inhabitants  mustered  in  hostile  array,  as  if 
to  dispute  his  passage.  But  the  cavalier  soon  con- 
vinced them  of  his  pacific  intentions,  and,  laying  aside 
their  menacing  attitude,  they  received  the  Spaniards 
with  the  same  courtesy  which  had  been  shown  them 
in  most  places  on  their  march. 

Here  Soto  found  one  of  the  royal  officers,  employed 

16  "  Los  Indies  de  la  tierra  se  entendian  muy  bien  con  los  Espanoles, 
porque  aquellos  mochachos  Indies  que  en  el  descubrimiento  de  la 
tierra  Pizarro  truxo  d  Espafia,  entendian  muy  bien  nuestra  lengua,  y 
los  tenia  alii,  con  los  cuales  se  entendia  muy  bien  con  todos  los  natu- 
rales  de  la  tierra."  (Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS.)  Yet  it  is  e. 
proof  of  the  ludicrous  blunders  into  which  the  Conquerors  were  per- 
petually falling,  that  Pizarro's  secretary  constantly  confounds  the 
Inca's  name  with  that  of  his  capital.  Huayna  Capac  he  always 
styles  "  old  Cuzco,"  and  his  son  Huascar  "  young  Cuzco," 


ADVENTURES    ON    THE    MARCH.  365 

in  collecting  the  tribute  for  the  government.  From 
this  functionary  he  learned  that  the  Inca  was  quartered 
with  a  large  army  at  Caxamalca,  a  place  of  consider- 
able size  on  the  other  side  of  the  Cordillera,  where  he 
was  enjoying  the  luxury  of  the  warm  baths,  supplied 
by  natural  springs,  for  which  it  was  then  famous,  as 
it  is  at  the  present  day.  The  cavalier  gathered,  also, 
much  important  information  in  regard  to  the  resources 
and  the  general  policy  of  government,  the  state  main- 
tained by  the  Inca,  and  the  stern  severity  with  which 
obedience  to  the  law  was  everywhere  enforced.  He 
had  some  opportunity  of  observing  this  for  himself, 
as,  on  entering  the  village,  he  saw  several  Indians 
hanging  dead  by  their  heels,  having  been  executed 
for  some  violence  offered  to  the  Virgins  of  the  Sun, 
of  whom  there  was  a  convent  in  the  neighborhood.'7 

From  Caxas,  De  Soto  had  passed  to  the  adjacent 
town  of  Guancabamba,  much  larger,  more  populous, 
and  better  built  than  the  preceding.  The  houses, 
instead  of  being  made  of  clay  baked  in  the  sun,  were 
many  of  them  constructed  'of  solid  stone,  so  nicely 
put  together  that  it  was  impossible  to  detect  the  line 
of  junction.  A  river  which  passed  through  the  town 
was  traversed  by  a  bridge,  and  the  high-road  of  the 
Incas  which  crossed  this  district  was  far  superior  to 
that  which  the  Spaniards  had  seen  on  the  sea-board. 
It  was  raised  in  many  places,  like  a  causeway,  paved 

'7  "  A  la  entrada  del  Pueblo  havia  ciertos  Indies  ahorcados  de  los 
pies:  i  supo  de  este  Principal,  que  Atabalipa  los  mando  matar,  por- 
que  uno  de  ellos  entr6  en  la  Casa  de  las  Mugeres  k  dormir  con  una: 
al  qual,  i  a  todos  los  Porteros  que  consintieron,  ahorco."  Xerez; 
Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  i83. 
31* 


366  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

with  heavy  stone  flags,  and  bordered  by  trees  that 
afforded  a  grateful  shade  to  the  passenger,  while 
streams  of  water  were  conducted  through  aqueducts 
along  the  sides  to  slake  his  thirst.  At  certain  dis- 
tances, also,  they  noticed  small  houses,  which,  they 
were  told,  were  for  the  accommodation  of  the  trav- 
eller, who  might  thus  pass  without  inconvenience  from 
one  end  of  the  kingdom  to  the  other.'8  In  another 
quarter  they  beheld  one  of  those  magazines  destined 
for  the  army,  filled  with  grain  'and  with  articles  of 
clothing ;  and  at  the  entrance  of  the  town  was  a  stone 
building,  occupied  by  a  public  officer,  whose  business 
it  was  to  collect  the  tolls  or  duties  on  various  com- 
modities brought  into  the  place  or  carried  out  of  it.'9 
These  accounts  of  De  Soto  not  only  confirmed  all 
that  the  Spaniards  had  heard  of  the  Indian  empire, 
but  greatly  raised  their  ideas  of  its  resources  and  do- 
mestic policy.  They  might  well  have  shaken  the  con- 
fidence of  hearts  less  courageous. 

Pizarro,  before  leaving  his  present  quarters,  de- 
spatched a  messenger  to  San  Miguel  with  particulars 
of  his  movements,  sending  at  the  same  time  the  arti- 
cles received  from  the  Inca,  as  well  as  those  obtained 

18  "  Van  por  este  camino  canos  de  agua  de  donde  los  caminantes 
beben,  traidos  de  sus  nacimientos  de  otras  partes,  y  &  cada  Jornada 
una  Casa  a  manera  de  Venta  donde  se  aposentan  los  que  van  e 
vienen."  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  3. 

'9  "  A  la  entrada  de  este  Camino  en  el  Pueblo  de  Cajas  esta  una 
casa  al  principio  de  una  puente  donde  reside  una  guarda  que  recibe 
el  Portazgo  de  todos  los  que  van  e  vienen,  e  paganlo  en  la  misma  cosa 
que  llevan,  y  ninguno  puede  sacar  carga  del  Pueblo  sino  la  mete,  y 
esta  costumbre  es  alii  antigua."  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS., 
ubi  supra. 


ADVENTURES    ON    THE    MARCH.  367 

at  different  places  on  the  route.  The  skill  shown  in 
the  execution  of  some  of  these  fabrics  sent  to  Castile 
excited  great  admiration  there.  The  fine  woollen 
cloths,  especially,  with  their  rich  embroidery,  were 
pronounced  equal  to  textures  of  silk,  from  which  it 
was  not  easy  to  distinguish  them.  The  material  was 
probably  the  delicate  wool  of  the  vicuna,  none  of 
which  had  then  been  seen  in  Europe." 

Pizarro,  having  now  acquainted  himself  with  the 
most  direct  route  to  Caxamalca, — the  Caxamarca  of 
the  present  day,* — resumed  his  march,  taking  a  direc- 
tion nearly  south.  The  first  place  of  any  size  at  which 
he  halted  was  Motupe,  pleasantly  situated  in  a  fruitful 
valley,  among  hills  of  no  great  elevation,  which  cluster 
round  the  base  of  the  Cordilleras.  The  place  was  de- 
serted by  its  curaca,  who,  with  three  hundred  of  its 
warriors,  had  gone  to  join  the  standard  of  their  Inca. 
Here  the  general,  notwithstanding  his  avowed  purpose 
to  push  forward  without  delay,  halted  four  days.  The 
tardiness  of  his  movements  can  be  explained  only  by 
the  hope  which  he  may  have  still  entertained  of  being 
joined  by  further  reinforcements  before  crossing  the 
Cordilleras.  None  such  appeared,  however;  and,  ad- 

30  ' '  Piezas  de  lana  de  la  tierra,  que  era  cosa  mucho  de  ver  segun  su 
primer  e  gentileza,  e  no  se  sabian  determinar  si  era  seda  6  lana  segun 
su  fineza  con  muchas  labores  i  figuras  de  oro  de  martillo  de  tal  manera 
asentado  en  la  ropa  que  era  cosa  de  marabillar."  Oviedo,  Hist,  de 
las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  4. 


*  [The  letter  /,  except  in  the  combination  /*'  or  //,  which  is  equiva- 
lent to  the  Italian^/,  is  scarcely  found  in  the  Quichua — according  to 
Tschudi,  only  in  the  word  lampa,  a  hoe.  The  Spaniards  supplied 
the  omission  by  changing  r  to  /  in  several  names,  as  Lima  for  Rima;. 
-ED.] 


368  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

vancing  across  a  country  in  which  tracts  of  sandy 
plain  were  occasionally  relieved  by  a  broad  expanse 
of  verdant  meadow,  watered  by  natural  streams  and 
still  more  abundantly  by  those  brought  through  arti- 
ficial channels,  the  troops  at  length  arrived  at  the 
borders  of  a  river.  It  was  broad  and  deep,  and  the 
rapidity  of  the  current  opposed  more  than  ordinary 
difficulty  to  the  passage.  Pizarro,  apprehensive  lest 
this  might  be  disputed  by  the  natives  on  the  opposite 
bank,  ordered  his  brother  Hernando  to  cross  over  with 
a  small  detachment  under  cover  of  night  and  secure  a 
safe  landing  for  the  rest  of  the  troops.  At  break  of 
day  Pizarro  made  preparations  for  his  own  passage, 
by  hewing  timber  in  the  neighboring  woods  and  con- 
structing a  sort  of  floating  bridge,  on  which  before 
nightfall  the  whole  company  passed  in  safety,  the 
horses  swimming,  being  led  by  the  bridle.  It  was  a 
day  of  severe  labor,  and  Pizarro  took  his  own  share 
in  it  freely,  like  a  common  soldier,  having  ever  a  word 
of  encouragement  to  say  to  his  followers. 

On  reaching  the  opposite  side,  they  learned  from 
their  comrades  that  the  people  of  the  country,  instead 
of  offering  resistance,  had  fled  in  dismay.  One  of 
them,  having  been  taken  and  brought  before  Her- 
nando Pizarro,  refused  to  answer  the  questions  put  to 
him  respecting  the  Inca  and  his  army ;  till,  being  put 
to  the  torture,  he  stated  that  Atahuallpa  was  encamped, 
with  his  whole  force,  in  three  separate  divisions,  oc- 
cupying the  high  grounds  and  plains  of  Caxamalca. 
He  further  stated  that  the  Inca  was  aware  of  the  ap- 
proach of  the  white  men  and  of  their  small  number, 
and  that  he  was  purposely  decoying  them  into  his  own 


ADVENTURES    ON    THE    MARCH.  369 

quarters,  that  he  might  have  them  more  completely  in 
his  power. 

This  account,  when  reported  by  Hernando  to  his 
brother,  caused  the  latter  much  anxiety.  As  the 
timidity  of  the  peasantry,  however,  gradually  wore  off, 
some  of  them  mingled  with  the  troops,  and  among 
them  the  curaca  or  principal  person  of  the  village. 
He  had  himself  visited  the  royal  camp,  and  he  in- 
formed the  general  that  Atahuallpa  lay  at  the  strong 
town  of  Huamachuco,  twenty  leagues  or  more  south 
of  Caxamalca,  with  an  army  of  at  least  fifty  thousand 
men. 

These  contradictory  statements  greatly  perplexed  the 
chieftain ;  and  he  proposed  to  one  of  the  Indians  who 
had  borne  him  company  during  a  great  part  of  the 
march,  to  go  as  a  spy  into  the  Inca's  quarters  and 
bring  him  intelligence  of  his  actual  position,  and,  as 
far  as  he  could  learn  them,  of  his  intentions  towards 
the  Spaniards.  But  the  man  positively  declined  this 
dangerous  service,  though  he  professed  his  willingness 
'to  go  as  an  authorized  messenger  of  the  Spanish  com- 
mander. 

Pizarro  acquiesced  in  this  proposal,  and  instructed 
his  envoy  to  assure  the  Inca  that  he  was  advancing 
with  all  convenient  speed  to  meet  him.  He  was  to 
acquaint  the  monarch  with  the  uniformly  considerate 
conduct  of  the  Spaniards  towards  his  subjects  in  their 
progress  through  the  land,  and  to  assure  him  that  they 
were  now  coming  in  full  confidence  of  finding  in  him 
the  same  amicable  feelings  towards  themselves.  The 
emissary  was  practically  instructed  to  observe  if  the 
strong  passes  on  the  road  were  defended,  or  if  any 
Q* 


370  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

preparations  of  a  hostile  character  were  to  be  discerned. 
This  last  intelligence  he  was  to  communicate  to  the 
general  by  means  of  two  or  three  nimble-footed  at- 
tendants who  were  to  accompany  him  on  his  mis- 
sion." 

Having  taken  this  precaution,  the  wary  commander 
again  resumed  his  march,  and  at  the  end  of  three- days 
reached  the  base  of  the  mountain-rampart  behind 
which  lay  the  ancient  town  of  Caxamalca.  Before 
him  rose  the  stupendous  Andes,  rock  piled  upon  rock, 
their  skirts  below  dark  with  evergreen  forests,  varied 
here  and  there  by  terraced  patches  of  cultivated  gar- 
den, with  the  peasant's  cottage  clinging  to  their  shaggy 
sides,  and  their  crests  of  snow  glittering  high  in  the 
heavens, — presenting  altogether  such  a  wild  chaos  of 
magnificence  and  beauty  as  no  other  mountain-scenery 
in  the  world  can  show.  Across  this  tremendous  raru- 
part,  through  a  labyrinth  of  passes,  easily  capable  of 
defence  by  a  handful  of  men  against  an  army,  the 
troops  were  now  to  march.  To  the  right  ran  a  broad 
and  level  road,  with  its  border  of  friendly  shades,  and 
wide  enough  for  two  carriages  to  pass  abreast.  It  was 
one  of  the  great  routes  leading  to  Cuzco,  and  seemed 
by  its  pleasant  and  easy  access  to  invite  the  wayworn 
soldier  to  choose  it  in  preference  to  the  dangerous 
mountain-defiles.  Many  were  accordingly  of  opinion 
that  the  army  should  take  this  course  and  abandon  the 
original  destination  to  Caxamalca.  But  such  was  not 
the  decision  of  Pizarro. 

21  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS..  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  4. — Conq.  \ 
Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. — Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. — Xerez,  Conq. 
del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  190. 


REACH  THE  FOOT  OF  THE  ANDES. 


371 


The  Spaniards  had  everywhere  proclaimed  their  pur- 
pose, he  said,  to  visit  the  Inca  in  his  camp.  This 
purpose  had  been  communicated  to  the  Inca  himself. 
To  take  an  opposite  direction  now  would  only  be  to 
draw  on  them  the  imputation  of  cowardice,  and  to 
incur  Atahuallpa's  contempt.  No  alternative  remained 
but  to  march  straight  across  the  sierra  to  his  quarters. 
"  Let  every  one  of  you,"  said  the  bold  cavalier,  "  take 
heart  and  go  forward  like  a  good  soldier,  nothing 
daunted  by  the  smallness  of  your  numbers.  For  in 
the  greatest  extremity  God  ever  fights  for  his  own ; 
and  doubt  not  he  will  humble  the  pride  of  the  heathen, 
and  bring  him  to  the  knowledge  of  the  true  faith,  the 
great  end  and  object  of  the  Conquest. ' ' " 

Pizarro,  like  Cortes,  possessed  a  good  share  of  that 
frank  and  manly  eloquence  which  touches  the  heart 
of  the  soldier  more  than  the  parade  of  rhetoric  or  the 
finest  flow  of  elocution.  He  was  a  soldier  himself, 
and  partook  m  all  the  feelings  of  the  soldier,  his  joys, 
his  hopes,  and  his  disappointments.  He  was  not  raised 
by  rank  and  education  above  sympathy  with  the  hum- 
blest of  his  followers.  Every  chord  in  their  bosoms 
vibrated  with  the  same  pulsations  as  his  own,  and  the 
conviction  of  this  gave  him  a  mastery  over  them. 
"Lead  on,"  they  shouted,  as  he  finished  his  brief 

13  "  Que  todos  se  animasen  y  esforzasen  a  hacer  como  de  ellos  es- 
peraba  y  cpmo  buenos  espafioles  lo  suelen  hacer,  e  que  no  les  pusiese 
temor  la  multitud  que  se  decia  que  habia  de  gente  ni  el  poco  numero 
de  los  cristianos,  que  aunque  menos  fuesen  e  mayor  el  egercito  con- 
trario,  la  ayuda  de  Dios  es  mucho  mayor,  y  en  las  mayores  necesi- 
dades  socorre  y  faborece  a  los  suyos  para  desbaratar  y  abajar  la  sober- 
bia  de  los  infieles  e  traerlos  en  conocimiento  de  nuestra  Sta  fe  catolica." 
Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  4. 


372  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

but  animating  address,  "lead  on  wherever  you  think 
best.  We  will  follow  with  good  will,  and  you  shall 
see  that  we  can  do  our  duty  in  the  cause  of  God  and 
the  King!"23  There  was  no  longer  hesitation.  All 
thoughts  were  now  bent  on  the  instant  passage  of  the 
Cordilleras. 

»3  "  Todos  digeron  que  fuese  por  el  Camino  que  quisiese  i  viese 
que  mas  convenia,  que  todos  le  seguirian  con  buena  voluntad  e  obra 
al  tiempo  del  efecto,  y  veria  lo  que  cada  uno  de  ellos  haria  en  servicio 
de  Diose  de  su  Magestad."  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  loc.  cit. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

SEVERE     PASSAGE     OF    THE     ANDES. — EMBASSIES     FROM 

ATAHUALLPA. THE     SPANIARDS     REACH    CAXAMALCA. 

EMBASSY     TO     THE     INCA. — INTERVIEW    WITH    THE 

INCA. — DESPONDENCY  OF  THE  SPANIARDS. 

1532. 

THAT  night  Pizarro  held  a  council  of  his  principal 
officers,  and  it  was  determined  that  he  should  lead  the 
advance,  consisting  of  forty  horse  and  sixty  foot,  and 
reconnoitre  the  ground ;  while  the  rest  of  the  com- 
pany, under  his  brother  Hernando,  should  occupy 
their  present  position  till  they  received  further  orders. 

At  early  dawn  the  Spanish  general  and  his  detach- 
ment were  under  arms  and  prepared  to  breast  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  sierra.  These  proved  even  greater  than 
had  been  foreseen.  The  path  had  been  conducted  in 
the  most  judicious  manner  round  the  rugged  and  pre- 
cipitous sides  of  the  mountains,  so  as  best  to  avoid  the 
natural  impediments  presented  by  the  ground.  But  it 
was  necessarily  so  steep,  in  many  places,  that  the  cav- 
alry were  obliged  to  dismount,  and,  scrambling  up  as 
they  could,  to  lead  their  horses  by  the  bridle.  In 
many  places,  too,  where  some  huge  crag  or  eminence 
overhung  the  road,  this  was  driven  to  the  very  verge 
of  the  precipice  ;  and  the  traveller  was  compelled  to 
wind  along  the  narrow  ledge  of  rock,  scarcely  wide 
Peru.— VOL.  1.  32  ( 373 ) 


374  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

enough  for  his  single  steed,  where  a  misstep  would 
precipitate  him  hundreds,  nay,  thousands  of  feet  into 
the  dreadful  abyss  !  The  wild  passes  of  the  sierra, 
practicable  for  the  half-naked  Indian,  and  even  for 
the  sure  and  circumspect  mule, — an  animal  that  seems 
to  have  been  created  for  the  roads  of  the  Cordilleras, 
— were  formidable  to  the  man-at-arms  encumbered 
with  his  panoply  of  mail.  The  tremendous  fissures 
or  quebradas,  so  frightful  in  this  mountain-chain, 
yawned  open,  as  if  the  Andes  had  been  split  asunder 
by  some  terrible  convulsion,  showing  a  broad  expanse 
of  the  primitive  rock  on  their  sides,  partially  mantled 
over  with  the  spontaneous  vegetation  of  ages ;  while 
their  obscure  depths  furnished  a  channel  for  the  tor- 
rents, that,  rising  in  the  heart  of  the  sierra,  worked 
their  way  gradually  into  light  and  spread  over  the 
savannas  and  green  valleys  of  the  tierra  caliente  on 
their  way  to  the  great  ocean. 

Many  of  these  passes  afforded  obvious  points  of 
defence ;  and  the  Spaniards,  as  they  entered  the  rocky 
defiles,  looked  with  apprehension  lest  they  might  rouse 
some  foe  from  his  ambush.  This  apprehension  was 
heightened  as,  at  the  summit  of  a  steep  and  narrow 
gorge,  in  which  they  were  engaged,  they  beheld  a 
strong  work,  rising  like  a  fortress,  and  frowning,  as  it 
were,  in  gloomy  defiance  on  the  invaders.  As  they 
drew  near  this  building,  which  was  of  solid  stone, 
commanding  an  angle  of  the  road,  they  almost  ex- 
pected to  see  the  dusky  forms  of  the  warriors  rise 
over  the  battlements,  and  to  receive  their  tempest  of 
missiles  on  their  bucklers ;  for  it  was  in  so  strong  a 
position  that  a  few  resolute  men  might  easily  have 


SEVERE    PASSAGE    OF    THE    ANDES. 


375 


held  there  an  army  at  bay.  But  they  had  the  satis- 
faction to  find  the  place  untenanted,  and  their  spirits 
were  greatly  raised  by  the  conviction  that  the  Indian 
monarch  did  not  intend  to  dispute  their  passage,  when 
it  would  have  been  easy  to  do  so  with  success. 

Pizarro  now  sent  orders  to  his  brother  to  follow 
without  delay,  and,  after  refreshing  his  men,  continued 
his  toilsome  ascent,  and  before  nightfall  reached  an 
eminence  crowned  by  another  fortress,  of  even  greater 
strength  than  the  preceding.  It  was  built  of  solid 
masonry,  the  lower  part  excavated  from  the  living 
rock,  and  the  whole  work  executed  with  skill  not 
inferior  to  that  of  the  European  architect.1 

Here  Pizarro  took  up  his  quarters  for  the  night. 
Without  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the  rear,  on  the 
following  morning  he  resumed  his  march,  leading  still 
deeper  into  the  intricate  gorges  of  the  sierra.  The 
climate  had  gradually  changed,  and  the  men  and 
horses,  especially  the  latter,  suffered  severely  from 
the  cold,  so  long  accustomed  as  they  had  been  to  the 
sultry  climate  of  the  tropics.2  The  vegetation  also 
had  changed  its  character ;  and  the  magnificent  tim- 
ber which  covered  the  lower  level  of  the  country  had 
gradually  given  way  to  the  funereal  forest  of  pine, 
and,  as  they  rose  still  higher,  to  the  stunted  growth  of 
numberless  Alpine  plants,  whose  hardy  natures  found 

1 "  Tan  ancha  la  Cerca  como  qualquier  Fortale9a  de  Espana,  con  sus 
Puertas  :  que  si  en  esta  Tierra  oviese  los  Maestros,  i  Herramientas  de 
Espana,  no  pudiera  ser  mejor  labrada  la  Cerca."  Xerez,  Conq.  del 
Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  192. 

a  "  Es  tanto  el  frio  que  hace  en  esta  Sierra,  que  como  los  Caballos 
venian  hechos  al  calor,  que  en  los  Valles  hacia,  algunos  de  ellos  se 
resfriaron."  Ibid.,  p.  191. 


376  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

a  congenial  temperature  in  the  icy  atmosphere  of  the 
more  elevated  regions.  These  dreary  solitudes  seemed 
to  be  nearly  abandoned  by  the  brute  creation  as  well 
as  by  man.  The  light-footed  vicufia,  roaming  in  its 
native  state,  might  be  sometimes  seen  looking  down 
from  some  airy  cliff,  where  the  foot  of  the  hunter 
dared  not  venture.  But  instead  of  the  feathered  tribes 
whose  gay  plumage  sparkled  in  the  deep  glooms  of 
the  tropical  forests,  the  adventurers  now  beheld  only 
the  great  bird  of  the  Andes,  the  loathsome  condor, 
which,  sailing  high  above  the  clouds,  followed  with 
doleful  cries  in  the  track  of  the  army,  as  if  guided 
by  instinct  in  the  path  of  blood  and  carnage. 

At  length  they  reached  the  crest  of  the  Cordillera, 
where  it  spreads  out  into  a  bold  and  bleak  expanse, 
with  scarcely  a  vestige  of  vegetation,  except  what  is 
afforded  by  the  pajonal,  a  dried  yellow  grass,  which, 
as  it  is  seen  from  below,  encircling  the  base  of  the 
snow-covered  peaks,  looks,  with  its  brilliant  straw- 
color  lighted  up  in  the  rays  of  an  ardent  sun,  like  a 
setting  of  gold  round  pinnacles  of  burnished  silver. 
The  land  was  sterile,  as  usual  in  mining-districts,  and 
they  were  drawing  near  the  once  famous  gold-quarries 
on  the  way  to  Caxamalca  : 

"  Rocks  rich  in  gems,  and  mountains  big  with  mines, 
That  on  the  high  equator  ridgy  rise." 

Here  Pizarro  halted  for  the  coming  up  of  the  rear. 
The  air  was  sharp  and  frosty  ;  and  the  soldiers,  spread- 
ing their  tents,  lighted  fires,  and,  huddling  round 
them,  endeavored  to  find  some  repose  after  their  la- 
borious march.3 
3  "  6  aposentaronse  los  Espanoles  en  sus  toldoso  pabellones  de 


EMBASSIES    FROM  ATAHUALLPA. 


377 


They  had  not  been  long  in  these  quarters,  when  a 
messenger  arrived,  one  of  those  who  had  accompanied 
the  Indian  envoy  sent  by  Pizarro  to  Atahuallpa.  He 
informed  the  general  that  the  road  was  free  from  ene- 
mies, and  that  an  embassy  from  the  Inca  was  on  its 
way  to  the  Castilian  camp.  Pizarro  now  sent  back  to 
quicken  the  march  of  the  rear,  as  he  was  unwilling 
that  the  Peruvian  envoy  should  find  him  with  his  pres- 
ent diminished  numbers.  The  rest  of  the  army  were  not 
far  distant,  and  not  long  after  reached  the  encampment. 

In  a  short  time  the  Indian  embassy  also  arrived, 
which  consisted  of  one  of  the  Inca  nobles  and  several 
attendants,  bringing  a  welcome  present  of  llamas  to 
the  Spanish  commander.  The  Peruvian  bore,  also,  the 
greetings  of  his  master,  who  wished  to  know  when  the 
Spaniards  would  arrive  at  Caxamalca,  that  he  might 
provide  suitable  refreshments  for  them.  Pizarro  learned 
that  the  Inca  had  left  Huamachuco,  and  was  now  lying 
with  a  small  force  in  the  neighborhood  of  Caxamalca, 
at  a  place  celebrated  for  its  natural  springs  of  warm 
water.  The  Peruvian  was  an  intelligent  person,  and 
the  Spanish  commander  gathered  from  him  many  par- 
ticulars respecting  the  late  contests  which  had  distracted 
the  empire. 

As  the  envoy  vaunted  in  lofty  terms  the  military  prow- 
ess and  resources  of  his  sovereign,  Pizarro  thought  it 
politic  to  show  that  it  had  no  power  to  overawe  him, 
algodon  de  la  tierra  que  llevaban.  e  haciendo  fuegos  para  defenderse 
del  mucho  frio  que  en  aquella  Sierra  hacen,  porque  sin  ellos  no  se 
pudieron  valer  sin  padecer  mucho  trabajo  ;  y  segun  k  los  cristianos  les 
parecio,  y  aim  como  era  lo  cierto,  no  podia  haber  mas  frio  en  parte  de 
Espana  en  invierno."  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib. 
8.  cap.  4, 

32* 


378  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

He  expressed  his  satisfaction  at  the  triumphs  of  Ata- 
huallpa,  who,  he  acknowledged,  had  raised  himself  high 
in  the  rank  of  Indian  warriors.  But  he  was  as  infe- 
rior, he  added  with  more  policy  than  politeness,  to  the 
monarch  who  ruled  over  the  white  men,  as  the  petty 
curacas  of  the  country  were  inferior  to  him.  This  was 
evident  from  the  ease  with  which  a  few  Spaniards  had 
overrun  this  great  continent,  subduing  one  nation  after 
another  that  had  offered  resistance  to  their  arms.  He 
had  been  led  by  the  fame  of  Atahuallpa  to  visit  his 
dominions  and  to  offer  him  his  services  in  his  wars, 
and,  if  he  were  received  by  the  Inca  in  the  same 
friendly  spirit  with  which  he  came,  he  was  willing,  for 
the  aid  he  could  render  him,  to  postpone  awhile  his 
passage  across  the  country  to  the  opposite  seas.  The 
Indian,  according  to  the  Castilian  accounts,  listened 
with  awe  to  this  strain  of  glorification  from  the  Span- 
ish commander.  Yet  it  is  possible  that  the  envoy  was 
a  better  diplomatist  than  they  imagined,  and  that  he 
understood  it  was  only  the  game  of  brag  at  which  he 
was  playing  with  his  more  civilized  antagonist.4 

On  the  succeeding  morning,  at  an  early  hour,  the 
troops  were  again  on  their  march,  and  for  two  days 
were  occupied  in  threading  the  airy  defiles  of  the 
Cordilleras.  Soon  after  beginning  their  descent  on 
the  eastern  side,  another  emissary  arrived  from  the 
Inca,  bearing  a  message  of  similar  import  to  the  pre- 
ceding, and  a  present,  in  like  manner,  of  Peruvian 
sheep.  This  was  the  same  noble  that  had  visited 
Pizarro  in  the  valley.  He  now  came  in  more  state, 

4  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  193. — Oviedo,  Hist. 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  5. 


EAfH  ASSIES   FROM  ATAHUALLPA.  379 

quaffing  chicha — the  fermented  juice  of  the  maize — 
from  golden  goblets  borne  by  his  attendants,  which 
sparkled  in  the  eyes  of  the  rapacious  adventurers.5 

While  he  was  in  the  camp,  the  Indian  messenger, 
originally  sent  by  Pizarro  to  the  Inca,  returned,  and  no 
sooner  did  he  behold  the  Peruvian,  and  the  honorable 
reception  which  he  met  with  from  the  Spaniards,  than 
he  was  filled  with  wrath,  which  would  have  vented 
itself  in  personal  violence,  but  for  the  interposition 
of  the  by-standers.  It  was  hard,  he  said,  that  this 
Peruvian  dog  should  be  thus  courteously  treated,  when 
he  himself  had  nearly  lost  his  life  on  a  similar  mission 
among  his  countrymen.  -  On  reaching  the  Inca's  camp 
he  had  been  refused  admission  to  his  presence,  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  keeping  a  fast  and  could  not  be  seen. 
They  had  paid  no  respect  to  his  assertion  that  he  came 
as  an  envoy  from  the  white  men,  and  would,  probably, 
not  have  suffered  him  to  escape  with  life,  if  he  had  not 
assured  them  that  any  violence  offered  to  him  would  be 
retaliated  in  full  measure  on  the  persons  of  the  Peruvian 
envoys  now  in  the  Spanish  quarters.  There  was  no 
doubt,  he  continued,  of  the  hostile  intentions  of  Ata- 
huallpa ;  for  he  was  surrounded  with  a  powerful  army, 
strongly  encamped  about  a  league  from  Caxamalca, 
while  that  city  was  entirely  evacuated  by  its  inhabitants. 

s  "  Este  Embajador  traia  servicio  de  Senor,  i  cinco  6  seis  Vasos  de 
Oro  fino,  con  que  bebia,  i  con  ellosdaba  a  beber  a  los  Espanoles  de 
la  Chicha  que  traia."  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p. 
I93._Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  ubi  supra.— The  latter  author, 
in  this  part  of  his  work,  has  done  little  more  than  make  a  transcript 
of  that  of  Xerez.  His  endorsement  of  Pizarro's  secretary,  however, 
is  of  value,  from  the  fact  that,  with  less  temptation  to  misstate  or  over- 
state, he  enjoyed  excellent  opportunities  for  information. 


380  CONQUEST    OF  PERU. 

To  all  this  the  Inca's  envoy  coolly  replied  that 
Pizarro's  messenger  might  have  reckoned  on  such  a 
reception  as  he  had  found,  since  he  seemed  to  have 
taken  with  him  no  credentials  of  his  mission.  As  to 
the  Inca's  fast,  that  was  true ;  and,  although  he  would 
doubtless  have  seen  the  messenger  had  he  known  there 
was  one  from  the  strangers,  yet  it  was  not  safe  to  disturb 
him  at  these  solemn  seasons,  when  engaged  in  his  reli- 
gious duties.  The  troops  by  whom  he  was  surrounded 
were  not  numerous,  considering  that  the  Inca  was  at 
that  time  carrying  on  an  important  war;  and  as  to 
Caxamalca,  it  was  abandoned  by  the  inhabitants  in 
order  to  make  room  for  the  white  men,  who  were  so 
soon  to  occupy  it.6 

This  explanation,  however  plausible,  did  not  alto- 
gether satisfy  the  general ;  for  he  had  too  deep  a 
conviction  of  the  cunning  of  Atahuallpa,  whose  in- 
tentions towards  the  Spaniards  he  had  long  greatly 
distrusted.  As  he  proposed,  however,  to  keep  on 
friendly  relations  with  the  monarch  for  the  present, 
it  was  obviously  not  his  cue  to  manifest  suspicion. 
Affecting,  therefore,  to  give  full  credit  to  the  explana- 
tion of  the  envoy,  he  dismissed  him  with  reiterated 
assurances  of  speedily  presenting  himself  before  the 
Inca. 

The  descent  of  the  sierra,  though  the  Andes  are  less 
precipitous  on  their  eastern  side  than  towards  the  west, 
was  attended  with  difficulties  almost  equal  to  those  of 
the  upward  march  ;  and  the  Spaniards  felt  no  little 
satisfaction  when,  on  the  seventh  day,  they  arrived  in 

6  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru.  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  194.— Oviedo,  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  ubi  supra. 


THE    SPANIARDS    REACH  CAXAMALCA.      381 

view  of  the  valley  of  Caxamalca,  which,  enamelled 
with  all  the  beauties  of  cultivation,  lay  unrolled  like 
a  rich  and  variegated  carpet  of  verdure,  in  strong 
contrast  with  the  dark  forms  of  the  Andes,  that  rose 
up  everywhere  around  it.  The  valley  is  of  an  oval 
shape,  extending  about  five  leagues  in  length  by  three 
in  breadth.  It  was  inhabited  by  a  population  of  a 
superior  character  to  any  which  the  Spaniards  had  met 
on  the  other  side  of  the  mountains,  as  was  argued  by 
the  superior  style  of  their  attire  and  the  greater  clean- 
liness and  comfort  visible  both  in  their  persons  and 
dwellings.7  As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the  level 
tract  exhibited  the  show  of  a  diligent  and  thrifty  hus- 
bandry. A  broad  river  rolled  through  the  meadows, 
supplying  facilities  for  copious  irrigation  by  means  of 
the  usual  canals  and  subterraneous  aqueducts.  The 
land,  intersected  by  verdant  hedge-rows,  was  checkered 
with  patches  of  various  cultivation ;  for  the  soil  was 
rich,  and  the  climate,  if  less  stimulating  than  that  of 
the  sultry  regions  of  the  coast,  was  more  favorable  to 
the  hardy  products  of  the  temperate  latitudes.  Below 
the  adventurers,  with  its  white  houses  glittering  in  the 
sun,  lay  the  little  city  of  Caxamalca,  like  a  sparkling 
gem  on  the  dark  skirts  of  the  sierra.  At  the  distance 
of  about  a  league  farther,  across  the  valley,  might  be 
seen  columns  of  vapor  rising  up  towards  the  heavens, 
indicating  the  place  of  the  famous  hot  baths,  much 
frequented  by  the  Peruvian  princes.  And  here,  too, 
was  a  spectacle  less  grateful  to  the  eyes  of  the  Span- 
iards ;  for  along  the  slope  of  the  hills  a  white  cloud  of 
pavilions  was  seen  covering  the  ground,  as  thick  as 
7  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  195. 


382  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

snow-flakes,  for  the  space,,  apparently,  of  several  miles. 
"It  filled  us  all  with  amazement,"  exclaims  one  of 
the  Conquerors,  "  to  behold  the  Indians  occupying  so 
proud  a  position  !  So  many  tents,  so  well  appointed, 
as  were  never  seen  in  the  Indies  till  now  !  The  spec- 
tacle caused  something  like  confusion  and  even  fear  in 
the  stoutest  bosom.  But  it  was  too  late  to  turn  back, 
or  to  betray  the  least  sign  of  weakness,  since  the  natives 
in  our  own  company  would,  in  such  case,  have  been 
the  first  to  rise  upon  us.  So,  with  as  bold  a  counte- 
nance as  we  could,  after  coolly  surveying  the  ground, 
we  prepared  for  our  entrance  into  Caxamalca."  8 

What  were  the  feelings  of  the  Peruvian  monarch 
we  are  not  informed,  when  he  gazed  on  the  martial 
cavalcade  of  the  Christians,  as,  with  banners  streaming, 
and  bright  panoplies  glistening  in  the  rays  of  the  even- 
ing sun,  it  emerged  from  the  dark  depths  of  the  sierra 
and  advanced  in  hostile  array  over  the  fair  domain 
which,  to  this  period,  had  never  been  trodden  by  other 
foot  than  that  of  the  red  man."  It  might  be,  as  several 
of  the  reports  had  stated,  that  the  Inca  had  purposely 
decoyed  the  adventurers  into  the  heart  of  his  populous 
empire,  that  he  might  envelop  them  with  his  legions 

8  "  Y  eran  tantas  las  tiendas  que  parecian,  que  cierto  nos  puso  harto 
espanto,  porque  no  pensabamos  que  Indies  pudiesen  tener  tan  so- 
berbia  estancia,  ni  tantas  tiendas,  ni  tan  a  punto,  lo  cual  hasta  alii  en 
las  Indias  nunca  se  vio,  que  nos  causo  a  todos  los  Espanoles  harta 
confusion  y  temor ;  aunque  no  convenia  mostrarse,  ni  menos  volver 
atras,  porque  si  alguna  flaqueza  en  nosotros  sintieran,  los  mismos 
Indios  que  llevabamos  nos  mataran,  y  ansi  con  animoso  semblante, 
despues  de  haber  muy  bien  atalayado  el  pueblo  y  tiendas  que  he 
dicho,  abajamos  por  el  valle  abajo,  y  entramos  en  el  pueblo  de  Caja- 
malca."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


THE    SPANIARDS    REACH  CAXAMALCA.      383 

and  the  more  easily  become  master  of  their  property 
and  persons.'  Or  was  it  from  a  natural  feeling  of 
curiosity,  and  relying  on  their  professions  of  friend- 
ship, that  he  had  thus  allowed  them,  without  any 
attempt  at  resistance,  to  come  into  his  presence?  At 
all  events,  he  could  hardly  have  felt  such  confidence 
in  himself  as  not  to  look  with  apprehension,  mingled 
with  awe,  on  the  mysterious  strangers,  who,  coming 
from  an  unknown  world  and  possessed  of  such  won- 
derful gifts,  had  made  their  way  across  mountain  and 
valley  in  spite  of  every  obstacle  which  man  and  nature 
had  opposed  to  them. 

Pizarro,  meanwhile,  forming  his  little  corps  into 
three  divisions,  now  moved  forward,  at  a  more  meas- 
ured pace,  and  in  order  of  battle,  down  the  slopes  that 
led  towards  the  Indian  city.  As  he  drew  near,  no  one 
came  out  to  welcome  him ;  and  he  rode  through  the 
streets  without  meeting  with  a  living  thing,  or  hearing 
a  sound,  except  the  echoes,  sent  back  from  the  deserted 
dwellings,  of  the  tramp  of  the  soldiery. 

It  was  a  place  of  considerable  size,  containing  about 
ten  thousand  inhabitants,  somewhat  more,  probably, 

9  This  was  evidently  the  opinion  of  the  old  Conqueror,  whose  im- 
perfect manuscript  forms  one  of  the  best  authorities  for  this  portion 
of  our  narrative :  "  Temendonos  en  muy  poco,  y  no  haciendo  cuenta 
que  190  hombres  le  habian  de  ofender,  dio  lugar  y  consintio  que  pasa- 
'semos  por  aquel  paso  y  por  otros  muchos  tan  malos  como  el,  porque 
realmente,  a  lo  que  despues  se  supo  y  averiguo,  su  intencion  era 
vernos  y  preguntarnos,  de  donde  veniamos  ?  y  quien  nos  habia  he- 
chado  alii  ?  y  que  queriamos  ?  Porque  era  mvy  sabio  y  discreto,  y 
iitnujiie  sin  litz  nl  escriptura,  amigo  de  saber  y  de  sotil  entendimiento  ; 
y  despues  de  holgadose  con  nosotros,  tomarnos  los  caballos  y  las  cosas 
que  a  el  mas  le  aplacian,  y  sacrificar  a  los  demas."  Relacion  del 
primer  Descub.,  MS. 


384  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

than  the  population  assembled  at  this  day  within  the 
walls  of  the  modern  city  of  Caxamalca.10  The  houses, 
for  the  most  part,  were  built  of  clay,  hardened  in  the 
sun ;  the  roofs  thatched  or  of  timber.  Some  of  the 
more  ambitious  dwellings  were  of  hewn  stone ;  and 
there  was  a  convent  in  the  place,  occupied  by  the 
Virgins  of  the  Sun,  and  a  temple  dedicated  to  the 
same  tutelar  deity,  which  last  was  hidden  in  the  deep 
embowering  shades  of  a  grove  on  the  skirts  of  the  city. 
On  the  quarter  towards  the  Indian  camp  was  a  square 
— if  square  it  might  be  called,  which  was  almost  tri- 
angular in  form — of  an  immense  size,  surrounded  by 
low  buildings.  These  consisted  of  capacious  halls, 
with  wide  doors  or  openings  communicating  with  the 
square.  „  They  were  probably  intended  as  a  sort  of 
barracks  for  the  Inca's  soldiers."  At  the  end  of  the 
plaza,  looking  towards  the  country,  was  a  fortress  of 
stone,  with  a  stairway  leading  from  the  city,  and  a 
private  entrance  from  the  adjoining  suburbs.  There 
was  still  another  fortress  on  the  rising  ground  which 
commanded  the  town,  built  of  hewn  stone  and  encom- 
passed by  three  circular  walls, — or  rather  one  and  the 
same  wall,  which  wound  up  spirally  around  it.  It  was 

10  According  to  Stevenson,  this  population,  which  is  of  a  very 
mixed  character,  amounts,  or  did  amount  some  thirty  years  ago,  to 
about  seven  thousand.  That  sagacious  traveller  gives  an  animated 
description  of  the  city,  in  which  he  resided  some  time,  and  which  he 
seems  to  have  regarded  with  peculiar  predilection.  Yet  it  does  not 
hold  probably  the  relative  rank  at  the  present  day  that  it  did  in  that 
of  the  Incas.  Residence  in  South  America,  vol.  ii.  p.  131. 

«  Carta  de  Hern.  Pizarro,  ap.  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS., 
Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  15. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii. 
P-  195- 


I:  MB 'ASSY    TO     THE    IXC  A.  385 

a  place  of  great  strength,  and  the  workmanship  showed 
a  better  knowledge  of  masonry,  and  gave  a  higher 
impression  of  the  architectural  science  of  the  people, 
than  any  thing  the  Spaniards  had  yet  seen." 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  fifteenth  of 
November,  1532,  when  the  Conquerors  entered  the 
city  of  Caxamalca.  The  weather,  which  had  been  fair 
during  the  day,  now  threatened  a  storm,  and  some  rain 
mingled  with  hail — for  it  was  unusually  cold — began  to 
fall.'3  Pizarro,  however,  was  so  anxious  to  ascertain 
the  dispositions  of  the  Inca  that  he  determined  to  send 
an  embassy  at  once  to  his  quarters.  He  selected  for 
this  Hernando  de  Soto  with  fifteen  horse,  and,  after 
his  departure,  conceiving  that  the  number  was  too 
small  in  case  of  any  unfriendly  demonstrations  by  the 
Indians,  he  ordered  his  brother  Hernando  to  follow 
with  twenty  additional  troopers.  This  captain  and 
one  other  of  his  party  have  left  us  an  account  of  the 
excursion.14 

"  "  Fuer9as  son,  que  entre  Indies  no  se  ban  visto  tales."  Xerez, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  195.— Relacion  del  primer 
Descub.,  MS. 

»3  "  Desde  h.  poco  rato  comen9o  a  Hover,  i  caer  grani9o."  (Xerez, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  195.)  Caxamalca,  in  the  In- 
dian tongue,  signifies  "  place  of  frost ;"  for  the  temperature,  though 
usually  bland  and  genial,  is  sometimes  affected  by  frosty  winds  from 
the  east,  very  pernicious  to  vegetation.  Stevenson,  Residence  in  South 
America,  vol.  ii.  p.  129. 

M  Carta  de  Hern.  Pizarro,  MS.— The  Letter  of  Hernando  Pizarro, 
addressed  to  the  Royal  Audience  of  St.  Domingo,  gives  a  full  account 
of  the  extraordinary  events  recorded  in  this  and  the  ensuing  chapter, 
in  which  that  cavalier  took  a  prominent  part.  Allowing  for  the  par- 
tialities incident  to  a  chief  actor  in  the  scenes  he  describes,  no  au- 
thority can  rank  higher.  The  indefatigable  Oviedo,  who  resided  in 
Peru.— -VOL.  I.— R  33 


380  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

Between  the  city  and  the  imperial  camp  was  a  cause- 
way, built  in  a  substantial  manner  across  the  meadow- 
land  that  intervened.  Over  this  the  cavalry  galloped 
at  a  rapid  pace,  and  before  they  had  gone  a  league  they 
came  in  front  of  the  Peruvian  encampment,  where  it 
spread  along  the  gentle  slope  of  the  mountains.  The 
lances  of  the  warriors  were  fixed  in  the  ground  before 
their  tents,  and  the  Indian  soldiers  were  loitering  with- 
out, gazing  with  silent  astonishment  at  the  Christian 
cavalcade,  as  with  clangor  of  arms  and  shrill  blast  of 
trumpet  it  swept  by,  like  some  fearful  apparition  on 
the  wings  of  the  wind. 

The  party  soon  came  to  a  broad  but  shallow  stream, 
which,  winding  through  the  meadow,  formed  a  defence 
for  the  Inca's  position.  Across  it  was  a  wooden  bridge  ; 
but  the  cavaliers,  distrusting  its  strength,  preferred  to 
dash  through  the  waters,  and  without  difficulty  gained 
the  opposite  bank.  A  battalion  of  Indian  warriors  was 
drawn  up  under  arms  on  the  farther  side  of  the  bridge, 
but  they  offered  no  molestation  to  the  Spaniards ;  and 
these  latter  had  strict  orders  from  Pizarro — scarcely 
necessary  in  their  present  circumstances — to  treat  the 
natives  with  courtesy.  One  of  the  Indians  pointed  out 
the  quarter  occupied  by  the  Inca.'5 

It  was  an  open  court-yard,  with  a  light  building  or 
pleasure-house  in  the  centre,  having  galleries  running 
round  it,  and  opening  in  the  rear  on  a  garden.  The 

St.  Domingo,  saw  its  importance,  and  fortunately  incorporated  the 
document  in  his  great  work,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8, 
cap.  15. — The  anonymous  author  of  the  Relacion  del  primer  Descub., 
MS.,  was  also  detached  on  this  service. 

>s  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Carta  de  Hern.  Pizarro, 
MS. 


EMBASSY    TO    THE    INC  A.  387 

walls,  were  covered  with  a  shining  plaster,  both  white 
and  colored,  and  in  the  area  before  the  edifice  was  seen 
a  spacious  tank  or  reservoir  of  stone,  fed  by  aqueducts 
that  supplied  it  with  both  warm  and  cold  water.16  A 
basin  of  hewn  stone — it  may  be  of  a  more  recent  con- 
struction— still  bears,  on  the  spot,  the  name  of  the 
"Inca's  bath."17  The  court  was  filled  with  Indian 
nobles,  dressed  in  gayly-ornamented  attire,  in  attend- 
ance on  the  monarch,  and  with  women  of  the  royal 
household.  Amidst  this  assembly  it  was  not  difficult 
to  distinguish  the  person  of  Atahuallpa,  though  his 
dress  was  simpler  than  that  of  his  attendants.  But  he 
wore  on  his  head  the  crimson  borla  or  fringe,  which, 
surrounding  the  forehead,  hung  down  as  low  as  the 
eyebrow.  This  was  the  well-known  badge  of  Peruvian 
sovereignty,  and  had  been  assumed  by  the  monarch 
only  since  the  defeat  of  his  brother  Huascar.  He  was 
seated  on  a  low  stool  or  cushion,  somewhat  after  the 
Morisco  or  Turkish  fashion,  and  his  nobles  and  prin- 
cipal officers  stood  around  him  with  great  ceremony, 
holding  the  stations  suited  to  their  rank.'8 

16  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  202. — "  Y  al 
estanque  venian  dos  cafios  de  agua,  uno  caliente  y  otro  frio,  y  alii  se 
templava  la  una  con  la  otra,  para  quando  el  Senor  se  queria  banar  6 
sus  mugeres  que  otra  persona  no  osava  entrar  en  el  so  pena  de  la 
vida."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 

»7  Stevenson,  Residence  in  South  America,  vol.  ii.  p.  164. 

18  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  196. — Carta  de 
Hern.  Pizarro,  MS. — The  appearance  of  the  Peruvian  monarch  is  de- 
scribed in  simple  but  animated  style  by  the.  Conqueror  so  often  quoted, 
one  of  the  party :  "  Llegados  al  patio  de  la  dicha  casa  que  tenia  de- 
lante  della,  vimos  estar  en  medio  de  gran  muchedumbre  de  Indies 
asentado  aquel  gran  Senor  Atabalica  (de  quien  tanta  noticia,  y  tantas 
cosas  nos  habian  dicho)  con  una  corona  en  la  cabeza,  y  una  borla  que 


388  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

The  Spaniards  gazed  with  much  interest  on  the 
prince,  of  whose  cruelty  and  cunning  they  had  heard 
so  much,  and  whose  valor  had  secured  to  him  the  pos- 
session of  the  empire.  But  his  countenance  exhibited 
neither  the  fierce  passions  nor  the  sagacity  which  had 
been  ascribed  to  him ;  and,  though  in  his  bearing  he 
showed  a  gravity  and  a  calm  consciousness  of  authority 
well  becoming  a  king,  he  seemed  to  discharge  all  ex- 
pression from  his  features,  and  to  discover  only  the 
apathy  so  characteristic  of  the  American  races.  On 
the  present  occasion  this  must  have  been  in  part,  at 
least,  assumed.  For  it  is  impossible  that  the  Indian 
prince  should  not  have  contemplated  with  curious  in- 
terest a  spectacle  so  strange,  and,  in  some  respects, 
appalling,  as  that  of  these  mysterious  strangers,  for 
which  no  previous  description  could  have  prepared 
him. 

Hernando  Pizarro  and  Soto,  with  two  or  three  only 
of  their  followers,  slowly  rode  up  in  front  of  the  Inca ; 
and  the  former,  making  a  respectful  obeisance,  but 
without  dismounting,  informed  Atahuallpa  that  he 
came  as  an  ambassador  from  his  brother,  the  com- 
mander of  the  white  men,  to  acquaint  the  monarch 
with  their  arrival  in  his  city  of  Caxamalca.  They 
were  the  subjects  of  a  mighty  prince  across  the  waters, 
and  had  come,  he  said,  drawn  thither  by  the  report  of 
his  great  victories,  to  offer  their  services,  and  to  impart 

le  salia  della,  y  le  cubria  toda  la  frente,  la  cual  era  la  insinia  real, 
sentado  en  una  sillecita  muy  baja  del  suelo,  como  los  turcos  y  moros 
acostumbran  sentarse,  el  cual  estaba  con  tanta  magestad  y  aparato 
cual  nunca  se  ha  visto  jamas,  porque  estaba  cercado  de  mas  de  seis 
cientos  Senores  de  su  tierra."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


INTERVIEW  WITH    THE    INC  A.  389 

to  him  the  doctrines  of  the  true  faith  which  they  pro- 
fessed ;  and  he  brought  an  invitation  from  the  general 
to  Atahuallpa  that  the  latter  would  be  pleased  to  visit 
the  Spaniards  in  their  present  quarters. 

To  all  this  the  Inca  answered  not  a  word ;  nor  did 
he  make  even  a  sign  of  acknowledgment  that  he  com- 
prehended it ;  though  it  was  translated  for  him  by 
Felipillo,  one  of  the  interpreters  already  noticed.  He 
remained  silent,  with  his  eyes  fastened  on  the  ground ; 
but  one  of  his  nobles,  standing  by  his  side,  answered, 
"  It  is  well."  '9  This  was  an  embarrassing  situation  for 
the  Spaniards,  who  seemed  to  be  as  far  from  ascer- 
taining the  real  disposition  of  the  Peruvian  monarch 
towards  themselves  as  when  the  mountains  were  between 
them. 

In  a  courteous  and  respectful  manner,  Hernando 
Pizarro  again  broke  the  silence  by  requesting  the  Inca 
to  speak  to  them  himself  and  to  inform  them  what  was 
his  pleasure.20  To  this  Atahuallpa  condescended  to 
reply,  while  a  faint  smile  passed  over  his  features,  "  Tell 
your  captain  that  I  am  keeping  a  fast,  which  will  end 
to-morrow  morning.  I  will  then  visit  him,  with  my 
chieftains.  In  the  mean  time,  let  him  occupy  the 

'9  "  Las  cuales  por  el  oidas,  con  ser  su  inclinacion  preguntarnos  y 
saber  de  donde  veniamos,  y  que  queriamos,  y  ver  nuestras  personas 
y  caballos,  tubo  tanta  serenidad  en  el  rostro,  y  tanta  gravedad  en  su 
persona,  que  no  quiso  responder  palabra  a  lo  que  se  le  decia,  salvo 
que  un  Senor  de  aquellos  que  estabap  par  de  el  respondia :  bien 
estd."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 

80  "  Visto  por  el  dicho  Hernando  Pizarro  que  el  no  hablaba,  y  que 
aquella  tercera  persona  respondia  de  suyo,  torn6  le  &  suplicar,  que  el 
hablase  por  su  boca,  y  le  respondiese  lo  que  quisiese."  Ibid.,  MS., 
ubi  supra. 

33* 


39o  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

public    buildings  on   the  square,  and  no  other,  till  I 
come,  when  I  will  order  what  shall  be  done."  2t 

Soto,  one  of  the  party  present  at  this  interview,  as 
before  noticed,  was  the  best  mounted  and  perhaps  the 
best  rider  in  Pizarro's  troop.  Observing  that  Ata- 
huallpa  looked  with  some  interest  on  the  fiery  steed  that 
stood  before  him,  champing  the  bit  and  pawing  the 
ground  with  the  natural  impatience  of  a  war-horse,  the 
Spaniard  gave  him  the  rein,  and,  striking  his  iron  heel 
into  his  side,  dashed  furiously  over  the  plain,  then, 
wheeling  him  round  and  round,  displayed  all  the  beau- 
tiful movements  of  his  charger,  and  his  own  excellent 
horsemanship.  Suddenly  checking  him  in  full  career, 
he  brought  the  animal  almost  on  his  haunches,  so  near 
the  person  of  the  Inca  that  some  of  the  foam  that 
flecked  his  horse's  sides  was  thrown  on  the  royal  gar- 
ments. But  Atahuallpa  maintained  the  same  marble 
composure  as  before,  though  several  of  his  soldiers, 
whom  De  Soto  passed  in  the  course,  were  so  much  dis- 
concerted by  it  that  they  drew  back  in  manifest  terror, 
— an  act  of  timidity  for  which  they  paid  dearly,  if,  as 
the  Spaniards  assert,  Atahuallpa  caused  them  to  be  put 

21  "  El  cual  &  esto  volvio  la  cabeza  &  mirarle  sonriendose  y  le  dijo  : 
Decid  a  ese  Capitan  que  os  embia  aca ;  que  yo  estoy  en  ayuno,  y  le 
acabo  mafiana  por  la  manana,  que  en  bebiendo  una  vez,  yo  ire  con 
algunos  destos  principales  mios  d  verme  con  el,  que  en  tanto  el  se 
aposente  en  esas  casas  que  estan  en  la  plaza  que  son  comunes  a  todos, 
y  que  no  entren  en  otra  ninguna  hasta  que  Yo  vaya,  que  Yo  mandare 
lo  que  se  ha  de  hacer."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS.,  ubi  supra. 
— In  this  singular  interview  I  have  followed  the  account  of  the  cava- 
lier who  accompanied  Hernando  Pizarro,  in  preference  to  that  of  the 
latter,  who  represents  himself  as  talking  in  a  lordly  key,  that  savors 
too  much  of  the  vaunt  of  the  hidalgo. 


DESPONDENCY   OF    THE    SPANIARDS. 


39 1 


to  death  that  same  evening  for  betraying  such  unworthy 
weakness  to  the  strangers.22 

Refreshments  were  now  offered  'by  the  royal  attend- 
ants to  the  Spaniards,  which  they  declined,  being  un- 
willing to  dismount.  They  did  not  refuse,  however, 
to  quaff  the  sparkling  chicha  from  golden  vases  of  ex- 
traordinary size,  presented  to  them  by  the  dark-eyed 
beauties  of  the  harem.23  Taking  then  a  respectful 
leave  of  the  Inca,  the  cavaliers  rode  back  to  Caxamalca, 
with  many  moody  speculations  on  what  they  had  seen : 
on  the  state  and  opulence  of  the  Indian  monarch ;  on 
the  strength  of  his  military  array,  their  excellent  ap- 
pointments, and  the  apparent  discipline  in  their  ranks, 
— all  arguing  a  much  higher  degree  of  civilization,  and 
consequently  of  power,  than  any  thing  they  had  wit- 
nessed in  the  lower  regions  of  the  country.  As  they 
contrasted  all  this  with  their  own  diminutive  force,  too 
far  advanced,. as  they  now  were,  for  succor  to  reach 
them,  they  felt  they  had  done  rashly  in  throwing  them- 
selves into  the  midst  of  so  formidable  an  empire,  and 
were  filled  with  gloomy  forebodings  of  the  result.24 

»  Pedro  Pizarro.  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.— Relacion  del  primer 
Descub.,  MS. — "  I  algunos  Indios,  con  miedo,  se  desviaron  de  la 
Carrera,  por  lo  qual  Atabalipa  los  hi9O  luego  matar."  (Zarate,  Conq. 
del  Peru,  lib.  2,  cap.  4.) — Xerez  states  that  Atahuallpa  confessed  this 
himself,  in  conversation  with  the  Spaniards  after  he  was  taken  prisoner. 
— Soto's  charger  might  well  have  made  the  Indians  start,  if,  as  Balboa 
says,  he  took  twenty  feet  at  a  leap,  and  this  with  a  knight  in  armor  on 
his  back!  Hist,  du  Perou,  chap.  22. 

*3  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap. 
Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  196. 

»4  "  Hecho  esto  y  visto  y  atalayado  la  grandeza  del  ejercito,  y  las 
tiendas  que  era  bien  de  ver,  nos  bolvimos  a  donde  el  dicho  capitan  nos 
estaba  esperando,  harto  espantados  de  lo  que  habiamos  visto,  habiendo 


392  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

Their  comrades  in  the  camp  soon  caught  the  infectious 
spirit  of  despondency,  which  was  not  lessened  as  night 
came  on,  and  they  beheld  the  watch-fires  of  the  Peru- 
vians lighting  up  the  sides  of  the  mountains  and  glit- 
tering in  the  darkness,  "as  thick,"  says  one  who  saw 
them,  "as  the  stars  of  heaven."  2S 

Yet  there  was  one  bosom  in  that  little  host  which 
was  not  touched  with  the  feeling  either  of  fear  or 
dejection.  That  was  Pizarro's,  who  secretly  rejoiced 
that  he  had  now  brought  matters  to  the  issue  for 
which  he  had  so  long  panted.  He  saw  the  necessity 
of  kindling  a  similar  feeling  in  his  followers,  or  all 
would  be  lost.  Without  unfolding  his  plans,  he  went 
round  among  his  men,  beseeching  them  not  to  show 
faint  hearts  at  this  crisis,  when  they  stood  face  to  face 
with  the  foe  whom  they  had  been  so  long  seeking. 
"They  were  to  rely  on  themselves,  and  on  that  Provi- 
dence which  had  carried  them  safe  through  so  many 
fearful  trials.  It  would  not  now  desert  them  ;  and  if 
numbers,  however  great,  were  on  the  side  of  their 
enemy,  it  mattered  little,  when  the  arm  of  Heaven  was 

y  tomando  entre  nosotros  muchos  acuerdos  y  opiniones  de  lo  que  se 
debia  hacer,  estando  todos  con  mucho  temor  por  ser  tan  pocos,  y  estar 
tan  metidos  en  la  tierra  donde  no  podiamos  ser  socorridos."  (Rela- 
cion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS.)  Pedro  Pizarro  is  honest  enough  to  con- 
firm this  account  of  the  consternation  of  the  Spaniards.  (Descub.  y 
Conq.,  MS.)  Fear  was  a  strange  sensation  for  the  Castilian  cavalier. 
But  if  he  did  not  feel  some  touch  of  it  on  that  occasion,  he  must  have 
been  akin  to  that  doughty  knight  who,  as  Charles  V.  pronounced, 
"  never  could  have  snuffed  a  candle  with  his  fingers." 

25  "  Hecimos  la  guardia  en  la  plaza,  de  donde  se  vian  los  fuegos  del 
ejercito  de  los  Indios,  lo  cual  era  cosa  espantable,  que  como  estabnn 
en  una  ladera  la  mayor  parte,  y  tan  juntos  unos  de  otros,  no  parecia 
sino  un  cielo  muy  estrellado."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


DESPONDENCY    OF    TH'E    SPANIARDS.       393 

on  theirs."26  The  Spanish  cavalier  acted  under  the 
combined  influence  of  chivalrous  adventure  and  re- 
ligious zeal.  The  latter  was  the  more  effective  in 
the  hour  of  peril ;  and  Pizarro,  who  understood  well 
the  characters  he  had  to  deal  with,  by  presenting  the 
enterprise  as  a  crusade,  kindled  the  dying  embers  of 
enthusiasm  in  the  bosoms  of  his  followers,  and  restored 
their  faltering  courage. 

He  then  summoned  a  council  of  his  officers,  to  con- 
sider the  plan  of  operations,  or  rather  to  propose  to 
them  the  extraordinary  plan  on  which  he  had  himself 
decided.  This  was  to  lay  an  ambuscade  for  the  Inca 
and  take  him  prisoner  in  the  face  of  his  whole  army  ! 
It  was  a  project  full  of  peril, — bordering,  as  it  might 
well  seem,  on  desperation.  But  the  circumstances  of 
the  Spaniards  were  desperate.  Whichever  way  they 
turned,  they  were  menaced  by  the  most  appalling 
dangers;  and  better  was  it  bravely  to  confront  the 
danger  than  weakly  to  shrink  from  it,  when  there  was 
no  avenue  for  escape. 

To  fly  was  now  too  late.  Whither  could  they  fly? 
At  the  first  signal  of  retreat,  the  whole  army  of  the 
Inca  would  be  upon  them.  Their  movements  would 
be  anticipated  by  a  foe  far  better  acquainted  with  the 
intricacies  of  the  sierra  than  themselves ;  the  passes 
would  be  occupied,  and  they  would  be  hemmed  in  on 
all  sides ;  while  the  mere  fact  of  this  retrograde  move- 
ment would  diminish  their  confidence  and  with  it 
their  effective  strength,  while  itr  doubled  that  of  their 
enemy. 

36  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  197. — Naharro, 
Relacion  sumaria,  MS. 

,R* 


394  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

Yet  to  remain  long  inactive  in  their  present  position 
seemed  almost  equally  perilous.  Even  supposing  that 
Atahuallpa  should  entertain  friendly  feelings  towards 
the  Christians,  they  could  not  confide  in  the  continu- 
ance of  such  feelings.  Familiarity  with  the  white 
men  would  soon  destroy  the  idea  of  any  thing  super- 
natural, or  even  superior,  in  their  natures.  He  would 
feel  contempt  for  their  diminutive  numbers.  Their 
horses,  their  arms  and  showy  appointments,  would  be 
an  attractive  bait  in  the  eye  of  the  barbaric  monarch, 
and  when  conscious  that  he  had  the  power  to  crush 
their  possessors  he  would  not  be  slow  in  finding  a  pre- 
text for  it.  A  sufficient  one  had .  already  occurred  in 
the  high-handed  measures  of  the  Conquerors  on  their 
march  through  his  dominions. 

But  what  reason  had  they  to  flatter  themselves  that 
the  Inca  cherished  such  a  disposition  towards  them? 
He  was  a  crafty  and  unscrupulous  prince,  and,  if  the 
accounts  they  had  repeatedly  received  on  their  march 
were  true,  had  ever  regarded  the  coming  of  the  Span- 
iards with  an  evil  eye.  It  was  scarcely  possible  he 
should  do  otherwise.  His  soft  messages  had  only 
been  intended  to  decoy  them  across  the  mountains, 
where,  with  the  aid  of  his  warriors,  he  might  readily 
overpower  them.  They  were  entangled  in  the  toils 
which  the  cunning  monarch  had  spread  for  them. 

Their  only  remedy,  then,  was  to  turn  the  Inca's  arts 
against  himself;  to  take  him,  if  possible,  in  his  own 
snare.  There  was  no  time  to  be  lost ;  for  any  day 
might  bring  back  the  victorious  legions  who  had  re- 
cently won  his  battles  at  the  south,  and  thus  make  the 
odds  against  the  Spaniards  far  greater  than  now. 


DESPONDENCY   OF    THE    SPANIARDS. 


395 


Yet  to  encounter  Atahuallpa  in  the  open  field  would 
be  attended  .with  great  hazard ;  and,  even  if  victori- 
ous, there  would  be  little  probability  that  the  person 
of  the  Inca,  of  so  much  importance,  would  fall  into 
their  hands.  The  invitation  he  had  so  unsuspiciously 
accepted  to  visit  them  in  their  quarters  afforded  the 
best  means  for  securing  this  desirable  prize.  Nor 
was  the  enterprise  so  desperate,  considering  the  great 
advantages  afforded  by  the  character  and  weapons  of 
the  invaders  and  the  unexpectedness  of  the  assault. 
The  mere  circumstance  of  acting  on  a  concerted  plan 
would  alone  make  a  small  number  more  than  a  match 
for  a  much  larger  one.  But  it  was  not  necessary  to 
admit  the  whole  of  the  Indian  force  into  the  city 
before  the  attack  ;  and  the  person  of  the  Inca  once 
secured,  his  followers,  astounded  by  so  strange  an 
event,  were  they  few  or  many,  would  have  no  heart 
for  further  resistance  ;  and  with  the  Inca  once  in  his 
power,  Pizarro  might  dictate  laws  to  the  empire. 

In  this  daring  project  of  the  Spanish  chief  it  was 
easy  to  see  that  he  had  the  brilliant  exploit  of  Cortes 
in  his  mind  when  he  carried  off  the  Aztec  monarch  in 
his  capital.  But  that  was  not  by  violence, — at  least 
not  by  open  violence,— and  it  received  the  sanction, 
compulsory  though  it  were,  of  the  monarch  himself. 
It  was  also  true  that  the  results  in  that  case  did  not 
altogether  justify  a  repetition  of  the  experiment,  since 
the  people  rose  in  a  body  to  sacrifice  both  the  prince 
and  his  kidnappers.  Yet  this  was  owing,  in  part  at 
least,  to  the  indiscretion  of  the  latter.  The  experi- 
ment in  the  outset  was  perfectly  successful ;  and  could 
Pizarro  once  become  master  of  the  person  of  Ata- 


396  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

huallpa  he  trusted  to  his  own  discretion  for  the  rest. 
It  would  at  least  extricate  him  from  his  present  critical 
position,  by  placing  in  his  power  an  inestimable  guar- 
antee for  his  safety ;  and  if  he  could  not  make  his  own 
terms  with  the  Inca  at  once,  the  arrival  of  reinforce- 
ments from  home  would,  in  all  probability,  soon  en- 
able him  to  do  so. 

Pizarro  having  concerted  his  plans  for  the  follow- 
ing day,  the  council  broke  up,  and  the  chief  occupied 
himself  with  providing  for  the  security  of  the  camp 
during  the  night.  The  approaches  to  the  town  were 
defended;  sentinels'  were  posted  at  different  points, 
especially  on  the  summit  of  the  fortress,  where  they 
were  to  observe  the  position  of  the  enemy  and  to  re 
port  any  movement  that  menaced  the  tranquillity  of 
the  night.  After  these  precautions,  the  Spanish  com- 
mander and  his  followers  withdrew  to  their  appointed 
quarters, — but  not  to  sleep.  At  least,  sleep  must  have 
come  late  to  those  who  were  aware  of  the  decisive  plan 
for  the  morrow ;  that  morrow  which  was  to  be  the 
crisis  of  their  fate, — to  crown  their  ambitious  schemes 
with  full  success,  or  consign  them  to  irretrievable  ruin  ! 


CHAPTER    V. 

DESPERATE  PLAN  OF  PIZARRO. — ATAHUALLPA  VISITS  THE 
SPANIARDS. — HORRIBLE  MASSACRE. — THE  INCA  A  PRIS- 
ONER.— CONDUCT  OF  THE  CONQUERORS. SPLENDID 

PROMISES    OF   THE    INCA. — DEATH   OF    HUASCAR. 

1532. 

THE  clouds  of  the  evening  had  passed  away,  and 
the  sun  rose  bright  on  the  following  morning,  the  most 
memorable  epoch  in  the  annals  of  Peru.  It  was  Satur- 
day, the  sixteenth  of  November,  1532.  The  loud  cry 
of  the  trumpet  called  the  Spaniards  to  arms  with  the 
first  streak  of  dawn ;  and  Pizarro,  briefly  acquainting 
them  with  the  plan  of  the  assault,  made  the  necessary 
dispositions. 

The  plaza,  as  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
was  defended  on  its  three  sides  by  low  ranges  of  build- 
ings, consisting  of  spacious  halls  with  wide  doors  or 
vomitories  opening  into  the  square.  In  these  halls  he 
stationed  his  cavalry  in  two  divisions,  one  under  his 
brother  Hernando,  the  other  under  De  Soto.  The 
infantry  he  placed  in  another  of  the  buildings,  reserv- 
ing twenty  chosen  men  to  act  with  himself  as  occasion 
might  require.  Pedro  de  Candia,  with  a  few  soldiers 
and  the  artillery, — comprehending  under  this  imposing 
name  two  small  pieces  of  ordnance,  called  falconets, 
— he  established  in  the  fortress.  All  received  order* 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  34  ( 397 ) 


398  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

to  wait  at  their  posts  till  the  arrival  of  the  Inca.  After 
his  entrance  into  the  great  square,  they  were  still  to 
remain  under  cover,  withdrawn  from  observation,  till 
the  signal  was  given  by  the  discharge  of  a  gun,  when 
they  were  to  cry  their  war-cries,  to  rush  out  in  a  body 
from  their  covert,  and,  putting  the  Peruvians  to  the 
sword,  bear  off  the  person  of  the  Inca.  The  arrange- 
ment of  the  immense  halls,  opening  on  a  level  with  the 
plaza,  seemed  to  be  contrived  on  purpose  for  a  coup 
de  theatre.  Pizarro  particularly  inculcated  order  and 
implicit  obedience,  that  in  the  hurry  of  the  moment 
there  should  be  no  confusion.  Everything  depended 
on  their  acting  with  concert,  coolness,  and  celerity.1 

The  chief  next  saw  that  their  arms  were  in  good 
order,  and  that  the  breastplates  of  their  horses  were 
garnished  with  bells,  to  add  by  their  noise  to  the  con- 
sternation of  the  Indians.  Refreshments  were,  also, 
liberally  provided,  that  the  troops  should  be  in  con- 
dition for  the  conflict.  These  arrangements  being 
completed,  mass  was  performed  with  great  solemnity 
by  the  ecclesiastics  who  attended  the  expedition ;  the 
God  of  battles  was  invoked  to  spread  his  shield  over 
the  soldiers  who  were  fighting  to  extend  the  empire 
of  the  Cross ;  and  all  joined  with  enthusiasm  in  the 
chant,  "  Exsurgc,  Domine"  "Rise,  O  Lord!  and 
judge  thine  own  cause."2  One  might  have  supposed 

1  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Relacion  d«l  primer  De- 
scub.,  MS. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  197.— 
Carta  de  Hern.  Pizarro,  MS. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS., 
Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  7. 

z  "  Los  Eclesiasticos  i  Religiosos  se  ocuparon  toda  aquella  noche 
en  oracion,  pidiendo  A  Dios  el  mas  conveniente  suceso  a  su  sagrado 
servicio,  exaltacion  de  la  fe  e  salvacion  de  tanto  numero  de  almas. 


DESPERATE    PLAN    OF   PIZARRO.  399 

them  a  company  of  martyrs  about  to  lay  down  their 
lives  in  defence  of  their  faith,  instead  of  a  licentious 
band  of  adventurers  meditating  one  of  the  most  atro- 
cious acts  of  perfidy  on  the  record  of  history !  Yet, 
whatever  were  the  vices  of  the  Castilian  cavalier,  hy- 
pocrisy was  not  among  the  number.  He  felt  that  he 
was  battling  for  the  Cross,  and  under  this  conviction, 
exalted  as  it  was  at  such  a  moment  as  this  into  the 
predominant  impulse,  he  was  blind  to  the  baser  motives 
which  mingled  with  the  enterprise.  With  feelings  thus 
kindled  to  a  flame  of  religious  ardor,  the  soldiers  of 
Pixarro  .looked  forward  with  renovated  spirits  to  the 
coming  conflict ;  and  the  chieftain  saw  with  satisfaction 
that  in  the  hour  of  trial  his  men  would  be  true  to  their 
leader  and  themselves. 

It  was  late  in  the  day  before  any  movement  was 
visible  in  the  Peruvian  camp,  where  much  preparation 
was  making  to  approach  the  Christian  quarters  with 
due  state  and  ceremony.  A  message  was  received  from 
Atahuallpa,  informing  the  Spanish  commander  that  he 
should  come  with  his  warriors  fully  armed,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  Spaniards  had  come  to  his  quarters  the 
night  preceding.  This  was  not  an  agreeable  intima- 
tion to  Pizarro,  though  he  had  no  reason,  probably, 
to  expect  the  contrary.  But  to  object  might  imply 
distrust,  or  perhaps  disclose,  in  some  measure,  his  own 
designs.  He  expressed  his  satisfaction,  therefore,  at  the 

derramando  muchas  lagrimas  i  sangre  en  las  disciplinas  que  tomaron. 
Francisco  Pizarro  animo  a.  los  soldados  con  una  mid  cristia.no.  platica 
que  les  hizo  :  con  que,  i  asegurarles  los  Eclesiasticos  de  parte  de  Dios 
i  de  su  Madre  Santisima  la  vitoria,  amanecieron  todos  mui  deseosos 
de  dar  la  batalla,  diciendo  a  voces,  Exsurge  Domine,  et  judica  causam 
tuam."  Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. 


400  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

intelligence,  assuring  the  Inca  that,  come  as  he  would, 
he  would  be  received  by  him  as  a  friend  and  brother.' 

It  was  noon  before  the  Indian  procession  was  on  its 
march,  when  it  was  seen  occupying  the  great  causeway 
for  a  long  extent.  In  front  came  a  large  body  of 
attendants,  whose  office  seemed  to  be  to  sweep  away 
every  particle  of  rubbish  from  the  road.  High  above 
the  crowd  appeared  the  Inca,  borne  on  the  shoulders 
of  his  principal  nobles,  while  others  of  the  same  rank 
marched  by  the  sides  of  his  litter,  displaying  such  a 
dazzling  show  of  ornaments  on  their  persons  that,  in 
the  language  of  one  of  the  Conquerors,  "  they  blazed 
like  the  sun."4  But  the  greater  part  of  the  Inca's 
forces  mustered  along  the  fields  that  lined  the  road, 
and  were  spread  over  the  broad  meadows  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach.5 

When  the  royal  procession  had  arrived  within  half  a 
mile  of  the  city,  it  came  to  a  halt ;  and  Pizarro  saw 
with  surprise  that  Atahuallpa  was  preparing  to  pitch 

3  "  El  governador  respondi6 :  Di  a  tu  Senor,  que  venga  en  hora 
buena  como  quisiere,  que  de  la  manera  que  viniere  lo  recebire  como 
Amigo,  i  Hermano."  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p. 
197.— Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  7.—  Carta 
de  Hern.  Pizarro,  MS. 

<  "  Hera  tanta  la  pateneria  que  traian  d'oro  y  plata  que  hera  cossa 
estrana  lo  que  reluzia  con  el  Sol."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.. 
MS. 

s  To  the  eye  of  the  old  Conqueror  so  often  quoted,  the  number  of 
Peruvian  warriors  appeared  not  less  than  50,000 ;  "  mas  de  cincuenta 
mil  que  tenia  de  guerra."  (Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS.)  To 
Pizarro's  secretary,  as  they  lay  encamped  among  the  hills,  they  seemed 
about  30,000.  (Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  196.) 
However  gratifying  to  the  imagination  to  repose  on  some  precise 
number,  it  is  very  rarely  that  one  can  do  so  with  safety  in  estimating 
the  irregular  and  tumultuous  levies  of  a  barbarian  host. 


ATA  I  I  CALL  PA    VISITS    THE    SPANIARDS.      AOI 

his  tents,  as  if  to  encamp  there.  A  messenger  soon 
after  arrived,  informing  the  Spaniards  that  the  Inca 
would  occupy  his  present  station  the  ensuing  night, 
and  enter  the  city  on  the  following  morning. 

This  intelligence  greatly  disturbed  Pizarro,  who  had 
shared  in  the  general  impatience  of  his  men  at  the 
tardy  movements  of  the  Peruvians.  The  troops  had 
been  under  arms  since  daylight,  the  cavalry  mounted, 
and  the  infantry  at  their  post,  waiting  in  silence  the 
coming  of  the  Inca.  A  profound  stillness  reigned 
throughout  the  town,  broken  only  at  intervals  by  the 
cry  of  the  sentinel  from  the  summit  of  the  fortress,  as 
he  proclaimed  the  movements  of  the  Indian  army. 
Nothing,  Pizarro  well  knew,  was  so  trying  to  the 
soldier  as  prolonged  suspense,  in  a  critical  situation 
like  the  present ;  and  he  feared  lest  his  ardor  might 
evaporate,  and  be  succeeded  by  that  nervous  feeling 
natural  to  the  bravest  soul  at  such  a  crisis,  and  which, 
if  not  fear,  is  near  akin  to  it.6  He  returned  an  answer, 
therefore,  to  Atahuallpa,  deprecating  his  change  of 
purpose,  and  adding  that  he  had  provided  every  thing 
for  his  entertainment,  and  expected  him  that  night  to 
sup  with  him.7 

This  message  turned   the   Inca  from  his   purpose; 

6  Pedro  Pizarro  says  that  an  Indian  spy  reported  to  Atahuallpa  that 
the  white  men  were  all  huddled  together  in  the  great  halls  on  the 
square,  in  much  consternation,  llenos  de  miedo, — which  was  not  far 
from  the  truth,  adds  the  cavalier.     (Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.) 

7  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq..  MS.     "  Asentados  sus  toldos 
envio  &  decir  al  gobernador  que  ya  era  tarde,  que  el  queria  dormir 
alii,  que  por  la  manana  vernia :  el  gobernador  le  envio  &  decir  que  le 
rogaba  que  viniese  luego,  porque  le  esperaba  a  cenar,  e  que  no  habia 
de  cenar,  hasta  que  fuese."     Carta  de  Hern.  Pizarro,  MS. 

34* 


402  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

and,  striking  his  tents  again,  he  resumed  his  march, 
first  advising  the  general  that  he  should  leave  the 
greater  part  of  his  warriors  behind,  and  enter  the 
place  with  only  a  few  of  them,  and  without  arms,8  as 
he  preferred  to  pass  the  night  at  Caxamalca.  At  the 
same  time  he  ordered  accommodations  to  be  provided 
for  himself  and  his  retinue  in  one  of  the  large  stone 
buildings,  called,  from  a  serpent  sculptured  on  the 
walls,  "the  House  of  the  Serpent."  9  No  tidings  could 
have  been  more  grateful  to  the  Spaniards.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  Indian  monarch  was  eager  to  rush  into  the 
snare  that  had  been  spread  for  him  !  The  fanatical 
cavalier  could  not  fail  to  discern  in  it  the  immediate 
finger  of  Providence. 

It  is  difficult  to  account  for  this  wavering  conduct 
of  Atahuallpa,  so  different  from  the  bold  and  decided 
character  which  history  ascribes  to  him.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  he  made  his  visit  to  the  white  men  in 
perfect  good  faith  ;  though  Pizarro  was  probably  right 
in  conjecturing  that  this  amiable  disposition  stood  on 
a  very  precarious  footing.  There  is  as  little  reason  to 
suppose  that  he  distrusted  the  sincerity  of  the  strangers; 
or  he  would  not  thus  unnecessarily  have  proposed  to 
visit  them  unarmed.  His  original  purpose  of  coming 
with  all  his  force  was  doubtless  to  display  his  royal 
state,  and  perhaps,  also,  to  show  greater  respect  for 
the  Spaniards ;  but  when  he  consented  to  accept  their 

8  "  6l  queria  venir  luego,  6  que  venia  sin  armas.     E  luego  Ata- 
baliva  se  movio  para  venir  e  dejo  alii  la  gente  con  las  armas,  e  llevo 
consigo  hasta  cinco  6  seis  mil  indios  sin  armas,  salvo  que  debajo  de  las 
camisetas  traian  unas  porras  pequenas,  e  hondas,  e  bolsas  con  pie- 
dras."     Carta  de  Hern.  Pizarro.  MS. 

9  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  197. 


ATAHUALLPA    VISITS    THE    SPANIARDS.      403 

hospitality  and  pass  the  night  in  their  quarters,  he 
was  willing  to  dispense  with  a  great  part  of  his  armed 
soldiery  and  visit  them  in  a  manner  that  implied  entire 
confidence  in  their  good  faith.  He  was  too  absolute 
in  his  own  empire  easily  to  suspect ;  and  he  probably 
could  not  comprehend  the  audacity  with  which  a  few 
men,  like  those  now  assembled  in  Caxamalca,  medi- 
tated an  assault  on  a  powerful  monarch  in  the  midst  of 
his  victorious  army.  He  did  not  know  the  character 
of  the  Spaniard. 

It  was  not  long  before  sunset  when  the  van  of  the 
royal  procession  entered  the  gates  of  the  city.  First 
came  some  hundreds  of  the  menials,  employed  to  clear 
the  path  of  every  obstacle,  and  singing  songs  of 
triumph  as  they  came,  "which  in  our  ears,"  says  one 
of  the  Conquerors,  "  sounded  like  the  songs  of  hell"  ! I0 
Then  followed  other  bodies  of  different  ranks,  and 
dressed  in  different  liveries.  Some  wore  a  showy  stuff, 
checkered  white  and  red,  like  the  squares  of  a  chess- 
board." Others  were  clad  in  pure  white,  bearing  ham- 
mers or  maces  of  silver  or  copper ; "  and  the  guards, 
together  with  those  in  immediate  attendance  on  the 
prince,  were  distinguished  by  a  rich  azure  livery,  and 
a  profusion  of  gay  ornaments,  while  the  large  pendants 
attached  to  the  ears  indicated  the  Peruvian  noble. 

Elevated  high  above  his  vassals  came  the  Inca 
Atahuallpa,  borne  on  a  sedan  or  open  litter,  on  which 
was  a  sort  of  throne  made  of  massive  gold  of  inestima- 
ble value.13  The  palanquin  was  lined  with  the  richly- 

10  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 

11  "  Blanca  y  colorada  como  las  casas  de  un  ajedrez."    Ibid.,  MS. 
"  "  Con  martillos  en  las  manos  de  cobre  y  plata."    Ibid.,  MS. 

'3  "  El  asiento  que  traia  sobre  las  andas  era  un  tablon  de  oro  que 


404  CONQUEST   OF  -PEKU. 

colored  plumes  of  tropical  birds  and  studded  with 
shining  plates  of  gold  and  silver.'4  The  monarch's 
attire  was  much  richer  than  on  the  preceding  evening. 
Round  his  neck  was  suspended  a  collar  of  emeralds  of 
uncommon  size  and  brilliancy.15  His  short  hair  was 
decorated  with  golden  ornaments,  and  the  imperial 
borla  encircled  his  temples.  The  bearing  of  the  Inca 
was  sedate  and  dignified  ;  and  from  his  lofty  station  he 
looked  down  on  the  multitudes  below  with  an  air  of 
composure,  like  one  accustomed  to  command. 

As  the  leading  files  of  the  procession  entered  the 
great  square,  larger,  says  an  old  chronicler,  than  any 
square  in  Spain,  they  opened  to  the  right  and  left  for 
the  royal  retinue  to  pass.  Every  thing  was  conducted 
with  admirable  order.  The  monarch  was  permitted 
to  traverse  the  plaza  in  silence,  and  not  a  Spaniard  was 
to  be  seen.  When  some  five  or  six  thousand  of  his 
people  had  entered  the  place,  Atahuallpa  halted,  and, 
turning  round  with  an  inquiring  look,  demanded, 
"  Where  are  the  strangers?" 

At  this  moment  Fray  Vicente  de  Valverde,  a  Domi- 
nican friar,  Pizarro's  chaplain,  and  afterwards  Bishop 
of  Cuzco,  came  forward  with  his  breviary,  or,  as  other 

peso  un  quintal  de  oro  segun  dicen  los  historiadores  25,000  pesos  6 
ducados."  Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. 

n  "  Luego  venia  mucha  Gente  con  Armaduras,  Patenas,  i  Coronas 
de  Oro  i  Plata:  entre  estos  venia  Atabalipa,  en  una  Litera,  aforrada 
de  Pluma  de  Papagaios,  de  muchas  colores,  guarnecida  de  chapas  de 
Oro,  i  Plata."  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  198. 

is  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — "  Venia  la  persona  de 
Atabalica,  la  cual  traian  ochenta  Senores  en  hombros  todos  bestidos 
de  una  librea  azul  muy  rica,  y  el  bestido  su  persona  muy  ricamente 
con  su  corona  en  la  cabeza,  y  al  cuello  un  collar  de  esmeraldas 
grandes."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


ATAHCALI.r.l    VISITS    THE    SPANIARDS. 


405 


accounts  say,  a  Bible,  in  one  hand,  and  a  crucifix  in 
the  other,  and,  approaching  the  Inca,  told  him  that  he 
came  by  order  of  his  commander  to  expound  to  him 
the  doctrines  gf  the  true  faith,  for  which  purpose  the 
Spaniards  had  come  from  a  great  distance  to  his  coun- 
try. The  friar  then  explained,  as  clearly  as  he  could, 
the  mysterious  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and,  ascending 
high  in  his  account,  began  with  the  creation  of  man, 
thence  passed  to  his  fall,  to  his  subsequent  redemption 
by  Jesus  Christ,  to  the  crucifixion,  and  the  ascension, 
when  the  Saviour  left  the  Apostle  Peter  as  his  Vice- 
gerent upon  earth.  This  power  had  been  transmitted 
to  the  successors  of  the  apostle,  good  and  wise  men, 
who,  under  the  title  of  Popes,  held  authority  over  all 
powers  and  potentates  on  earth.  One  of  the  last  of 
these  Popes  had  commissioned  the  Spanish  emperor, 
the  most  mighty  monarch  in  the  world,  to  conquer  and 
convert  the  natives  in  this  Western  hemisphere ;  and 
his  general,  Francisco  Pizarro,  had  now  come  to  exe- 
cute this  important  mission.  The  friar  concluded  with 
beseeching  the  Peruvian  monarch  to  receive  him  kindly, 
to  abjure  the  errors  of  his  own  faith,  and  embrace  that 
of  the  Christians  now  proffered  to  him,  the  only  one 
by  which  he  could  hope  for  salvation,  and,  furthermore, 
to  acknowledge  himself  a  tributary  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  the  Fifth,  who,  in  that  event,  would  aid  and 
protect  him  as  his  loyal  vassal.'6 

«6  Montesinos  says  that  Valverde  read  to  the  Inca  the  regular  for- 
mula used  by  the  Spaniards  in  their  Conquests.  (Annales,  ^1S.,  ano 
J533-)  But  that  address,  though  absurd  enough,  did  not  comprehend 
the  whole  range  of  theology  ascribed  to  the  chaplain  on  this  occasion. 
Yet  it  is  not  impossible.  But  I  have  followed  the  report  of  Fray  Na- 
harro,  who  collected  his  information  from  the  actors  in  the  tragedy, 


4o6  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

Whether  Atahuallpa  possessed  himself  of  every  link 
in  the  curious  chain  of  argument  by  which  the  monk 
connected  Pizarro  with  St.  Peter,  may  be  doubted.  It 
is  certain,  however,  that  he  must  have  had  very  incor- 
rect notions  of  the  Trinity,  if,  as  Garcilasso  states,  the 
interpreter  Felipillo  explained  it  by  saying  that  "  the 
Christians  believed  in  three  Gods  and  one  God,  and 
that  made  four."  I7  But  there  is  no  doubt  he  perfectly 
comprehended  that  the  drift  of  the  discourse  was  to 
persuade  him  to  resign  his  sceptre  and  acknowledge  the 
supremacy  of  another. 

The  eyes  of  the  Indian  monarch  flashed  fire,  and  his 
dark  brow  grew  darker,  as  he  replied,  "  I  will  be  no 
man's  tributary.  I  am  greater  than  any  prince  upon 
earth.  Your  emperor  may  be  a  great  prince  ;  I  do  not 
doubt  it,  when  I  see  that  he  has  sent  his  subjects  so  far 
across  the  waters ;  and  I  am  willing  to  hold  him  as  a 
brother.  As  for  the  Pope  of  whom  you  speak,  he  must 
be  crazy  to  talk  of  giving  away  countries  which  do  not 
belong  to  him.  For  my  faith,"  he  continued,  "  I  will 
not  change  it.  Your  own  God,  as  you  say,  was  put  to 
death  by  the  very  men  whom  he  created.  But  mine," 
he  concluded,  pointing  to  his  Deity, — then,  alas  !  sink- 
ing in  glory  behind  the  mountains,-r— "my  God  still 
lives  in  the  heavens  and  looks  down  on  his  children."  '8 

and  whose  minuter  statement  is  corroborated  by  the  more  general 
testimony  of  both  the  Pizarros  and  the  secretary  Xerez. 

'7  "  For  dezir  Dios  trino  y  uno  dixo  Uios  tres  y  uno  son  quatro, 
sumandp  los  numeros  por  darse  d  entender."  Com.  Real.,  Parte  2, 
lib.  i,  cap.  23. 

18  See  Appendix  No.  8,  where  the  reader  will'  find  extracts  in  the 
original  from  several  contemporary  MSS.,  relating  to  the  capture  of 
Atahuallpa. 


ATAHUALLPA    VISITS    THE    SPANIARDS.      407 

He  then  demanded  of  Valverde  by  what  authority 
he  had  said  these  things.  The  friar  pointed  to  the  book 
which  he  held,  as  his  authority.  Atahuallpa,  taking  it, 
turned  over  the  pages  a  moment,  then,  as  the  insult  he 
had  received  probably  flashed  across  his  mind,  he  threw 
it  down  with  vehemence,  and  exclaimed,  "Tell  your 
comrades  that  they  shall  give  me  an  account  of  their 
doings  in  my  land.  I  will  not  go  from  here  till  they 
have  made  me  full  satisfaction  for  all  the  wrongs  they 
have  committed."  '9 

The  friar,  greatly  scandalized  by  the  indignity  offered 
to  the  sacred  volume,  stayed  only  to  pick  it  up,  and, 
hastening  to  Pizarro,  informed  him  of  what  had  been 
done,  exclaiming,  at  the  same  time,  "  Do  you  not  see 
that  while  we  stand  here  wasting  our  breath  in  talking 
with  this  dog,  full  of  pride  as  he  is,  the  fields  are  fill- 
ing with  Indians?  Set  on,  at  once;  I  absolve  you."  2° 

*9  Some  accounts  describe  him  as  taxing  the  Spaniards  in  much 
more  unqualified  terms.  (See  Appendix  No.  8.)  But  language  is  not 
likely  to  be  accurately  reported  in  such  seasons  of  excitement.  Ac- 
cording to  some  authorities,  Atahuallpa  let  the  volume  drop  by  acci- 
dent. (Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1533. — Balboa,  Hist,  du  PeYou, 
chap.  22.)  But  the  testimony,  as  far  as  we  have  it,  of  those  present, 
concurs  in  representing  it  as  stated  in  the  text.  And,  if  he  spoke  with 
the  heat  imputed  to  him,  this  act  would  only  be  in  keeping. 

20  "  Visto  esto  por  el  Frayle  y  lo  poco  que  aprovechaban  sus  pala- 
bras,  tomo  su  libro,  y  abajo  su  cabeza,  y  fuese  para  donde  estaba  el 
dicho  Pizarro,  casi  corriendo,  y  dijole  :  No  veis  lo  que  pasa  :  para  que 
estais  en  comedimientos  y  requerimientos  con  este  perro  lleno  de  so- 
berbia  que  vienen  los  campos  llenos  de  Indies?  Salid  &  el, — que  yo 
os  absuelvo."  (Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS.)  The  historian 
should  be  slow  in  ascribing  conduct  so  diabolical  to  Father  Valverde, 
without  evidence.  Two  of  the  Conquerors  present,  Pedro  Pizarro 
and  Xerez,  simply  state  that  the  monk  reported  to  his  commander  the 
indignity  offered  to  the  sacred  volume.  But  Hernando  Pizarro  and 


4o8  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

Pizarro  saw  that  the  hour  had  come.  He  waved  a 
white  scarf  in  the  air,  the  appointed  signal.  The  fatal 
gun  was  fired  from  the  fortress.  Then,  springing  into 
the  square,  the  Spanish  captain  and  his  followers 
shouted  the  old  war-cry  of  "St.  Jago  and  at  them." 
It  was  answered  by  the  battle-cry  of  every  Spaniard  in 
the  city,  as,  rushing  from  the  avenues  of  the  great  halls 
in  which  they  were  concealed,  they  poured  into  the 
plaza,  horse  and  foot,  each  in  his  own  dark  column, 
and  threw  themselves  into  the  midst  of  the  Indian 
crowd.  The  latter,  taken  by  surprise,  stunned  by  the 
report  of  artillery  and  muskets,  the  echoes  of  which 
reverberated  like  thunder  from  the  surrounding  build- 
ings, and  blinded  by  the  smoke  which  rolled  in  sul- 
phurous volumes  along  the  square,  were  seized  with  a 
panic.  They  knew  not  whither  to  fly  for  refuge  from 
the  coming  ruin.  Nobles  and  commoners, — all  were 
trampled  down  under  the  fierce  charge  of  the  cavalry, 
who  dealt  their  blows,  right  and  left,  without  sparing ; 
while  their  swords,  flashing  through  the  thick  gloom, 
carried  dismay  into  the  hearts  of  the  wretched  natives, 
who  now  for  the  first  time  saw  the  horse  and  his  rider 
in  all  their  terrors.  They  made  no  resistance, — as, 
indeed,  they  had  no  weapons  with  which  to  make  it. 
Every  avenue  to  escape  was  closed,  for  the  entrance  to 
the  square  was  choked  up  with  the  dead  bodies  of  men 

the  author  of  the  Relacion  del  primer  Descubrimiento,  both  eye- 
witnesses, and  Naharro,  Zarate,  Gomara,  Balboa,  Herrera,  the  Inca 
Titucussi  Yupanqui,  all  of  whom  obtained  their  information  from 
persons  who  were  eye-witnesses,  state  the  circumstance,  with  little 
variation,  as  in  the  text.  Yet  Oviedo  endorses  the  account  of  Xerez, 
and  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  insists  on  Valverde's  innocence  of  any  at- 
tempt to  rouse  the  passions  of  his  comrades. 


HORRIBLE    MASSACRE. 


409 


who  had  perished  in  vain  efforts  to  fly ;  and  such  was 
the  agony  of  the  survivors  under  the  terrible  pressure 
of  their  assailants  that  a  large  body  of  Indians,  by 
their  convulsive  struggles,  burst  through  the  wall  of 
stone  and  dried  clay  which  formed  part  of  the  bound- 
ary of  the  plaza  !  It  fell,  leaving  an  opening  of  more 
than  a  hundred  paces,  through  which  multitudes  now 
found  their  way  into  the  country,  still  hotly  pursued 
by  the  cavalry,  who,  leaping  the  fallen  rubbish,  hung 
on  the  rear  of  the  fugitives,  striking  them  down  in  all 
directions.21 

Meanwhile  the  fight,  or  rather  massacre,  continued 
hot  around,  the  Inca,  whose  person  was  the  great  object 
of  the  assault.  His  faithful  nobles,  rallying  about  him, 
threw  themselves  in  the  way  of  the  assailants,  and 
strove,  by  tearing  them  from  their  saddles,  or  at  least 
by  offering  their  own  bosoms  as  a  mark  for  their  ven- 
geance, to  shield  their  beloved  master.  It  is  said  by 
some  authorities  that  they  carried  weapons  concealed 
under  their  clothes.  If  so,  it  availed  them  little,  as  it  is 
not  pretended  that  they  used  them.  But  the  most  timid 
animal  will  defend  itself  when  at  bay.  That  the  In- 
dians did  not  do  so  in  the  present  instance  is  proof  that 
they  had  no  weapons  to  use."  Yet  they  still  continued 

21  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru, 
ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  198.— Carta  de  Hern.  Pizarro.  MS.— Oviedo, 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS..  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  7.— Relacion  del  primer 
Descub.,  MS. — Zarate,  Conq- del  Peru,  lib.  2,  cap.  5. — Instruccion 
del  Inga  Titucussi  Yupanqui,  MS. 

•»  The  author  of  the  Relacion  del  primer  Descubrimiento  speaks 

of  a  few  as  having  bows  and  arrows,  and  of  others  as  armed  with 

silver  and  copper  mallets  or  maces,  which  may,  however,  have  been 

more  for  ornament  than  for  service  in  fight.     Pedro  Pizarro  and  some 

Peru.— VOL.  I.— s          35 


4IO  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

to  force  back  the  cavaliers;  clinging  to  their  horses 
with  dying  grasp,  and,  as  one  was  cut  down,  another 
taking  the  place  of  his  fallen  comrade  with  a  loyalty 
truly  affecting. 

The  Indian  monarch,  stunned  and  bewildered,  saw 
his  faithful  subjects  falling  around  him  without  fully 
comprehending  his  situation.  The  litter  on  which  he 
rode  heaved  to  and  fro,  as  the  mighty  press  swayed 
backwards  and  forwards ;  and  he  gazed  on  the  over- 
whelming ruin,  like  some  forlorn  mariner,  who,  tossed 
about  in  his  bark  by  the  furious  elements,  sees  the 
lightning's  flash  and  hears  the  thunder  bursting  around 
him  with  the  consciousness  that  he  can  do  nothing  to 
avert  his  fate.  At  length,  weary  with  the  work  of 
destruction,  the  Spaniards,  as  the  shades  of  evening 
grew  deeper,  felt  afraid  that  the  royal  prize  might, 
after  all,  elude  them  ;  and  some  of  the  cavaliers  made 
a  desperate  attempt  to  end  the  affray  at  once  by  taking 
Atahuallpa's  life.  But  Pizarro,  who  was  nearest  his 
person,  called  out,  with  stentorian  voice,  "  Let  no  one 
who  values  his  life  strike  at  the  Inca;"23  and,  stretch- 
ing out  his  arm  to  shield  him,  received  a  wound  on 
the  hand  from  one  of  his  own  men, — the  only  wound 
received  by  a  Spaniard  in  the  action.2* 

later  writers  say  that  the  Indians  brought  thongs  with  them  to  bind 
the  captive  white  men.  Both  Hernando  Pizarro  and  the  secretary 
Xerez  agree  that  their  only  arms  were  secreted  under  their  clothes ; 
but,  as  they  do  not  pretend  that  these  were  used,  and  as  it  was  an- 
nounced by  the  Inca  that  he  came  without  arms,  the  assertion  may 
well  be  doubted, — or  rather  discredited.  All  authorities,  without  ex- 
ception, agree  that  no  active  resistance  was  attempted. 

23  "  El  marquez  dio  bozes  diciendo :  Nadie  hiera  al  indio  so  pena 
de  la  vida."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 

»«  Whatever  discrepancy  exists  among  the  Castilian  accounts  in 


THE    INCA    A    PRISONER.  411 

The  struggle  now  became  fiercer  than  ever  round  the 
royal  litter.  It  reeled  more  and  more,  and  at  length, 
several  of  the  nobles  who  supported  it  having  been 
slain,  it  was  overturned,  and  the  Indian  prince  would 
have  come  with  violence  to  the  ground,  had  not  his 
fall  been  broken  by  the  efforts  of  Pizarro  and  some 
other  of  the  cavaliers,  who  caught  him  in  their  arms. 
The  imperial  borla  was  instantly  snatched  from  his 
temples  by  a  soldier  named  Estete,'5  and  the  unhappy 

other  respects,  all  concur  in  this  remarkable  fact, — that  no  Spaniard, 
except  their  general,  received  a  wound  on  that  occasion.  Pizarro  saw 
in  this  a  satisfactory  argument  for  regarding  the  Spaniards,  this  day, 
as  under  the  special  protection  of  Providence.  See  Xerez,  Conq.  del 
Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  199. 

3S  Miguel  Estete,  who  long  retained  the  silken  diadem  as  a  trophy 
of  the  exploit,  according  to  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  (Com.  Real.,  Parte 
2,  lib.  i,  cap.  27),  an  indifferent  authority  for  any  thing  in  this  part 
of  his  history.  This  popular  writer,  whose  work,  from  his  superior 
knowledge  of  the  institutions  of  the  country,  has  obtained  greater 
credit,  even  in  what  relates  to  the  Conquest,  than  the  reports  of  the 
Conquerors  themselves,  has  indulged  in  the  romantic  vein  to  an  un- 
pardonable extent  in  his  account  of  the  capture  of  Atahuallpa.  Ac- 
cording to  him,  th'e  Peruvian  monarch  treated  the  invaders  from  the 
first  with  supreme  deference,  as  descendants  of  Viracocha,  predicted 
by  his  oracles  as  to  come  and  rule  over  the  land.  But  if  this  flatter- 
ing homage  had  been  paid  by  the  Inca,  it  would  never  have  escaped 
the  notice  of  the  Conquerors.  Garcilasso  had  read  the  Commentaries 
of  Cortes,  as  he  somewhere  tells  us ;  and  it  is  probable  that  that  gen- 
eral's account,  well  founded,  it  appears,  of  a  similar  superstition  among 
the  Aztecs,  suggested  to  the  historian  the  idea  of  a  corresponding  sen- 
timent in  the  Peruvians,  which,  while  it  flattered  the  vanity  of  the 
Spaniards,  in  some  degree  vindicated  his  own  countrymen  from  the 
charge  of  cowardice,  incurred  by  their  too  ready  submission ;  for, 
however  they  might  be  called  on  to  resist  men,  it  would  have  been 
madness  to  resist  the  decrees  of  Heaven.  Yet  Garcilasso's  romantic 
version  has  something  in  it  so  pleasing  to  the  imagination  that  it  has 
ever  found  favor  with  the  majority  of  readers.  The  English  student 


4I2  CONQUEST    OF  PERU. 

monarch,  strongly  secured,  was  removed  to  a  neigh- 
boring building,  where  he  was  carefully  guarded. 

All  attempt  at  resistance  now  ceased.  The  fate  of 
the  Inca  soon  spread  over  town  and  country.  The 
charm  which  might  have  held  the  Peruvians  together 
was  dissolved.  Every  man  thought  only  of  his  own 
safety.  Even  the  soldiery  encamped  on  the  adjacent 
fields  took  the  alarm,  and,  learning  the  fatal  tidings, 
were  seen  flying  in  every  direction  before  their  pur- 
suers, who  in  the  heat  of  triumph  showed  no  touch  of 
mercy.  At  length  night,  more  pitiful  than  man,  threw 
her  friendly  mantle  over  the  fugitives,  and  the  scattered 
troops  of  Pizarro  rallied  once  more  at  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet  in  the  bloody  square  of  Caxamalca. 

The  number  of  slain  is  reported,  as  usual,  with  great 
discrepancy.  Pizarro's  secretary  says  two  thousand 
natives  fell.36  A  descendant  of  the  Incas — a  safer 
authority  than  Garcilasso — swells  the  number  to  ten 
thousand.27  Truth  is  generally  found  somewhere  be- 

might  have  met  with  a  sufficient  corrective  in  the  criticism  of  the  sa- 
gacious and  skeptical  Robertson. 

26  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  199. 

»7  "  Los  mataron  a  todos  con  los  Cavallos  con  espadas  con  arca- 
buzes  como  quien  mata  ovejas — sin  hacerles  nadie  resistencia  que  no 
se  escaparon  de  mas  de  diez  mil,  doscientos."  Instruc.  del  Inga  Titu- 
cussi,  MS. — This  document,  consisting  of  two  hundred  folio  pages,  is 
signed  by  a  Peruvian  Inca,  grandson  of  the  great  Huayna  Capac,  and 
nephew,  consequently,  of  Atahuallpa.  It  was  written  in  1570,  and 
designed  to  set  forth  to  his  Majesty  Philip  II.  the  claims  of  Titu- 
cussi  and  the  members  of  his  family  to  the  royal  bounty.  In  the 
course  of  the  Memorial  the  writer  takes  occasion  to  recapitulate  some 
of  the  principal  events  in  the  latter  years  of  the  empire  ;  and,  though 
sufficiently  prolix  to  tax  even  the  patience  of  Philip  II.,  it  is  of  much 
value  as  an  historical  document,  coming  from  one  of  the  royal  race 
of  Peru. 


THE    INCA    A    PRISONER.  4!3 

tween  the  extremes.  The  slaughter  was  incessant,  for 
there  was  nothing  to  check  it.  That  there  should  have 
been  no  resistance  will  not  appear  strange  when  we 
consider  the  fact  that  the  wretched  victims  were 
without  arms,  and  that  their  senses  must  have  been 
completely  overwhelmed  by  the  strange  and  appalling 
spectacle  which  burst  on  them  so  unexpectedly. 
"What  wonder  was  it,"  said  an  ancient  Inca  to  a 
Spaniard,  who  repeats  it,  "what  wonder  that  our 
countrymen  lost  their  wits,  seeing  blood  run  like 
water,  and  the  Inca,  whose  person  we  all  of  us  adore, 
seized  and  carried  off  by  a  handful  of  men?"38  Yet, 
though  the  massacre  was  incessant,  it  was  short  in 
duration.  The  whole  time  consumed  by  it,  the  brief 
twilight  of  the  tropics,  did  not  much  exceed  half  an 
hour;  a  short  period,  indeed, — yet  long  enough  to 
decide  the  fate  of  Peru  and  to  subvert  the  dynasty  of 
the  Incas. 

That  night  Pizarro  kept  his  engagement  with  the 
Inca,  since  he  had  Atahuallpa  to  sup  with  him.  The 
banquet  was  served  in  one  of  the  halls  facing  the  great 
square,  which  a  few  hours  before  had  been  the  scene 

*  Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1532. — According  to  Naharro, 
the  Indians  were  less  astounded  by  the  wild  uproar  caused  by  the 
sudden  assault  of  the  Spaniards,  though  "  this  was  such  that  it  seemed 
as  if  the  very  heavens  were  falling,"  than  by  a  terrible  apparition 
which  appeared  in  the  air  during  the  onslaught.  It  consisted  of  a 
woman  and  a  child,  and,  at  their  side,  a  horseman  all  clothed  in  white 
on  a  milk-white  charger,— doubtless  the  valiant  St.  James,— who,  with 
his  sword  glancing  lightning,  smote  down  the  infidel  host  and  rendered 
them  incapable  of  resistance.  This  miracle  the  good  father  reports  on 
the  testimony  of  three  of  his  Order,  who  were  present  in  the  action 
and  who  received  the  account  from  numbers  of  the  natives.  Relacion 
sumaria,  MS. 

35* 


444  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

of  slaughter,  and  the  pavement  of  which  was  still 
encumbered  with  the  dead  bodies  of  the  Inca's  sub- 
jects. The  captive  monarch  was  placed  next  his 
conqueror.  He  seemed  like  one  who  did  not  yet  fully 
comprehend  the  extent  of  his  calamity.  If  he  did,  he 
showed  an  amazing  fortitude.  "It  is  the  fortune  of 
war,"  he  said;29  and,  if  we  may  credit  the  Spaniards, 
he  expressed  his  admiration  of  the  adroitness  with 
which  they  had  contrived  to  entrap  him  in  the  midst 
of  his  own  troops.30  He  added  that  he  had  been 
made  acquainted  with  the  progress  of  the  white  men 
from  the  hour  of  their  landing,  but  that  he  had  been 
led  to  undervalue  their  strength  from  the  insignificance 
of  their  numbers.  He  had  no  doubt  he  should  be  easily 
able  to  overpower  them,  on  their  arrival  at  Caxamalca, 
by  his  superior  strength  ;  and,  as  he  wished  to  see  for 
himself  what  manner  of  men  they  were,  he  had  suffered 
them  to  cross  the  mountains,  meaning  to  select  such  as 
he  chose  for  his  own  service,  and,  getting  possession  of 
their  wonderful  arms  and  horses,  put  the  rest  to  death.31 
That  such  may  have  been  Atahuallpa's  purpose  is  not 
improbable.  It  explains  his  conduct  in  not  occupying 
the  mountain-passes,  which  afforded  such  strong  points 
of  defence  against  invasion.  But  that  a  prince  so 
astute,  as  by  the  general  testimony  of  the  Conquerors 

*9  "  Diciendo  que  era  uso  de  Guerra  veneer,  i  ser  vencido."  Her- 
rera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  2,  cap.  12. 

3<>  "  Haciendo  admiracion  de  la  traza  que  tenia  hecha."  Relacion 
del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 

3»  "And  in  my  opinion,"  adds  the  Conqueror  who  reports  the 
speech,  "  he  had  good  grounds  for  believing  he  could  do  this,  since 
nothing  but  the  miraculous  interposition  of  Heaven  could  have  saved 
us."  Ibid.,  MS. 


CONDUCT    OF    THE  CONQUERORS.  415 

he  is  represented  to  have  been,  should  have  made  so 
impolitic  a  disclosure  of  his  hidden  motives  is  not  so 
probable.  The  intercourse  with  the  Inca  was  carried 
on  chiefly  by  means  of  the  interpreter  Felipillo,  or  little 
Philip,  as  he  was  called,  from  his  assumed  Christian 
name, — a  malicious  youth,  as  it  appears,  who  bore  no 
good  will  to  Atahuallpa,  and  whose  interpretations 
were  readily  admitted,  by  the  Conquerors,  eager  to 
find  some  pretext  for  their  bloody  reprisals. 

Atahuallpa,  as  elsewhere  noticed,  was  at  this  time 
about  thirty  years  of  age.  He  was  well  made,  and 
more  robust  than  usual  with  his  countrymen.  His 
head  was  large,  and  his  countenance  might  have  been 
called  handsome,  but  that  his  eyes,  which  were  blood- 
shot, gave  a  fierce  expression  to  his  features.  He  was 
deliberate  in  speech,  grave  in  manner,  and  towards  his 
own  people  stern  even  to  severity  ;  though  with  the 
Spaniards  he  showed  himself  affable,  sometimes  even 
indulging  in  sallies  of  mirth.32 

Pizarro  paid  every  attention  to  his  royal  captive, 
and  endeavored  to  lighten,  if  he  could  not  dispel,  the 
gloom  which,  in  spite  of  his  assumed  equanimity,  hung 
over  the  monarch's  brow.  He  besought  him  not  to  be 
cast  down  by  his  reverses,  for  his  lot  had  only  been 
that  of  every  prince  who  had  resisted  the  white  men. 
They  had  come  into  the  country  to  proclaim  the  gospel, 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  it  was  no  wonder  they 
had  prevailed,  when  his  shield  was  over  them.  Heaven 
had  permitted  that  Atahuallpa's  pride  should  be  hum- 
bled, because  of  his  hostile  intentions  towards  the 
Spaniards  and  the  insult  he  had  offered  to  the  sacred 

3*  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  203. 


4i 6  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

volume.  But  he  bade  the  Inca  take  courage  and 
confide  in  him,  for  the  Spaniards  were  a  generous 
race,  warring  only  against  those  who  made  war  on 
them,  and  showing  grace  to  all  who  submitted ! M 
Atahuallpa  may  have  thought  the  massacre  of  that  day 
an  indifferent  commentary  on  this  vaunted  lenity. 

Before  retiring  for  the  night,  Pizarro  briefly  ad- 
dressed his  troops  on  their  present  situation.  When 
he  had  ascertained  that  not  a  man  was  wounded,  he 
bade  them  offer  up  thanksgivings  to  Providence  for  so 
great  a  miracle  ;  without  its  care,  they  could  never 
have  prevailed  so  easily  over  the  host  of  their  ene- 
mies ;  and  he  trusted  their  lives  had  been  reserved  for 
still  greater  things.  But,  if  they  would  succeed,  they 
had  much  to  do  for  themselves.  They  were  in  the 
heart  of  a  powerful  kingdom,  encompassed  by  foes 
deeply  attached  to  their  own  sovereign.  They  must 
be  ever  on  their  guard,  therefore,  and  be  prepared  at 
any  hour  to  be  roused  from  their  slumbers  by  the  call 
of  the  trumpet.34  Having  then  posted  his  sentinels, 
placed  a  strong  guard  over  the  apartment  of  Ata- 
huallpa, and  taken  all  the  precautions  of  a  careful 
commander,  Pizarro  withdrew  to  repose ;  and,  if  he 
could  really  feel  that  in  the  bloody  scenes  of  the  past 
day  he  had  been  fighting  only  the  good  fight  of  the 
Cross,  he  doubtless  slept  sounder  than  on  the  night 
preceding  the  seizure  of  the  Inca. 

On  the  following  morning,  the  first  commands  of 

33  "  Nosotros  vsamos  de  piedad  con  nuestros  Enemigos  vencidos,  i 
nohacemos  Guerra,  sinoalos  que  noslahacen,  i  pudiendolos  destruir, 
no  lo  hacemos,  antes  los  perdonamos."     Xerez.  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap. 
Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p>.  199. 

34  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. — Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 


coxnccr  OF  THE  CONQUERORS.        4^7 

the  Spanish  chief  were  to  have  the  city  cleansed  of 
its  impurities ;  and  the  prisoners,  of  whom  there  were 
many  in  the  camp,  were  employed  to  remove  the  dead 
and  give  them  decent  burial.  His  next  care  was  to 
despatch  a  body  of  about  thirty  horse  to  the  quarters 
lately  occupied  by  Atahuallpa  at  the  baths,  to  take 
possession  of  the  spoil,  and  disperse  the  remnant  of 
the  Peruvian  forces  which  still  hung  about  the  place. 

Before  noon,  the  party  which  he  had  detached  on 
this  service  returned  with  a  large  troop  of  Indians, 
men  and  women,  among  the  latter  of  whom  were 
many  of  the  wives  and  attendants  of  the  Inca.  The 
Spaniards  had  met  with  no  resistance ;  since  the  Peru- 
vian warriors,  though  so  superior  in  number,  excellent 
in  appointments,  and  consisting  mostly  of  able-bodied 
young  men, — for  the  greater  part  of  the  veteran  forces 
were  with  the  Inca's  generals  at  the  south, — lost  all 
heart  from  the  moment  of  their  sovereign's  captivity. 
There  was  no  leader  to  take  his  place  ;  for  they  recog- 
nized no  authority  but  that  of  the  Child  of  the  Sun, 
and  they  seemed  to  be  held  by  a  sort  of  invisible 
charm  near  the  place  of  his  confinement ;  while  they 
gazed  with  superstitious  awe  on  the  white  men  who 
could  achieve  so  audacious  an  enterprise.35 

35  From  this  time,  says  Ondegardo,  the  Spaniards,  who  hitherto  had 
been  designated  "as  the  "  men  with  beards,"  barbudos,  were  called  by 
the  natives,  from  their  fair-complexioned  deity,  Viracochas.  The 
people  of  Cuzco,  who  bore  no  goodwill  to  the  captive  Inca,  "  looked 
upon  the  strangers,"  says  the  author,  "  as  sent  by  Viracocha  himself." 
(Rel.  Prim.,  MS.)  It  reminds  us  of  a  superstition,  or  rather  an 
amiable  fancy,  among  the  ancient  Greeks,  that  "  the  stranger  came 
from  Jupiter." 

"  ripb?   yap  Aids  «i<7ii-  iiravTtt 
Stlvoi  rt."  OAY2.  f,  V.  57. 


4i 8  CONQUEST    OF    PERT. 

The  number  of  Indian  prisoners  was  so  great  that 
some  of  the  Conquerors  were  for  putting  them  all  to 
death,  or,  at  least,  cutting  off  their  hands,  to  disable 
them  from  acts  of  violence  and  to  strike  terror  into 
their  countrymen.36  The  proposition,  doubtless,  came 
from  the  lowest  and  most  ferocious  of  the  soldiery. 
But  that  it  should  have  been  made  at  all  shows  what 
materials  entered  into  the  composition  of  Pizarro's 
company.  The  chief  rejected  it  at  once,  as  no  less 
impolitic  than  inhuman,  and  dismissed  the  Indians 
to  their  several  homes,  with  the  assurance  that  none 
should  be  harmed  who  did  not  offer  resistance  to  the 
white  men.  A  sufficient  number,  however,  were  re- 
tained to  wait  on  the  Conquerors,  who  were  so  well 
provided  in  this  respect  that  the  most  common  soldier 
was  attended  by  a  retinue  of  menials  that  would  have 
better  suited  the  establishment  of  a  noble.37 

The  Spaniards  had  found  immense  droves  of  llamas 
under  the  care  of  the  shepherds  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  baths,  destined  for  the  consumption  of  the  court. 
Many  of  them  were  now  suffered  to  roam  abroad  among 
their  native  mountains ;  though  Pizarro  caused  a  con- 
siderable number  to  be  reserved  for  the  use  of  the 
army.  And  this  was  no  small  quantity,  if,  as  one 
of  the  Conquerors  says,  a  hundred  and  fifty  of  the 


3«  "  Algunos  fueron  de  opinion,  que  matasen  a  todos  los  Hombres 
de  Guerra,  6  les  cortasen  las  manos."  Xerez,  Hist,  del  Peru,  ap. 
Barcia,  tom.  iii.  p.  200. 

37  "  Cada  Espaftol  de  los  que  alii  ivan  tomaron  para  si  mui  gran 
cantidad  tanto  que  como  andava  todo  a  rienda  suelta  havia  Espanol 
que  tenia  docientas  piezas  de  Indies  i  Indias  de  servicio."  Conq.  i 
Potx  del  Piru,  MS. 


CONDUCT    OF    THE   CONQUERORS.  419 

Peruvian  sheep  were  frequently  slaughtered  in  a  day.18 
Indeed,  the  Spaniards  were  so  improvident  in  their 
destruction  of  these  animals  that  in  a  few  years  the 
superb  flocks,  nurtured  with  so  much  care  by  the 
Peruvian  government,  had  almost  disappeared  from  the 
land.39 

The  party  sent  to  pillage  the  Inca's  pleasure-house 
brought  back  a  rich  booty  in  gold  and  silver,  consist- 
ing chiefly  of  plate  for  the  royal  table,  which  greatly 
astonished  the  Spaniards  by  their  size  and  weight. 
These,  as  well  as  some  large  emeralds  obtained  there, 
together  with  the  precious  spoils  found  on  the  bodies 
of  the  Indian  nobles  who  had  perished  in  the  mas- 
sacre, were  placed  in  safe  custody,  to  be  hereafter 
divided.  In  the  city  of  Caxamalca  the  troops  also 
found  magazines  stored  with  goods,  both  cotton  and 
woollen,  far  superior  to  any  they  had  seen,  for  fine- 
ness of  texture  and  the.  skill  with  which  the  various 
colors  were  blended.  They  were  piled  from  the  floors 
to  the  very  roofs  of  the  buildings,  and  in  such  quan- 
tity that,  after  every  soldier  had  provided  himself 
with  what  he  desired,  it  made  no  sensible  diminution 
of  the  whole  amount.40 

&  "  Se  matan  cada  Dia,  ciento  i  cinquenta."  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru, 
ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  202. 

»Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  80. — Ondegardo,  Rel.  Seg.,  MS. — 
"  Hasta  que  los  destruian  todos  sin  haver  Espanol  ni  Justicia  que  lo 
defendiese  ni  amparase."  Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. 

*°  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  200. — There  was 
enough,  says  the  anonymous  Conqueror,  for  several  ship-loads. 
"  Todas  estas  cosas  de  tiendas  y  ropas  de  lana  y  algodon  eran  en  tan 
gran  cantidad,  que  a  mi  parecer  fueran  menester  muchos  navios  en 
que  supieran."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


4 jo  COXQCKST    OF   /'A AT. 

Pizarro  would  now  gladly  have  directed  his  march 
on  the  Peruvian  capital.  But  the  distance  was  great, 
and  his  force  was  small.  This  must  have  been  still 
further  crippled  by  the  guard  required  for  the  Inca, 
and  the  chief  feared  to  involve  himself  deeper  in  a 
hostile  empire  so  populous  and  powerful,  with  a  prize 
so  precious  in  his  keeping.  With  much  anxiety,  there- 
fore, he  looked  for  reinforcements  from  the  colonies ; 
and  he  despatched  a  courier  to  San  Miguel,  to  inform 
the  Spaniards  there  of  his  recent  successes,  and  to 
ascertain  if  there  had  been  any  arrival  from  Panama. 
Meanwhile  he  employed  his  men  in  making  Caxamalca 
a  more  suitable  residence  for  a  Christian  host,  by  erect- 
ing a  church,  or,  perhaps,  appropriating  some  Indian 
edifice  to  this  use,  in  which  mass  was  regularly  per- 
formed by  the  Dominican  fathers  with  great  solem- 
nity. The  dilapidated  walls  of  the  city  were  also 
restored  in  a  more  substantial  manner  than  before, 
and  every  vestige  was  soon  effaced  of  the  hurricane 
that  had  so  recently  swept  over  it. 

It  was  not  long  before  Atahuallpa  discovered,  amidst 
all  the  show  of  religious  zeal  in  his  Conquerors,  a  lurk- 
ing appetite  more  potent  in  most  of  their  bosoms  than 
either  religion  or  ambition.  This  was  the  love  of 
gold.  He  determined  to  avail  himself  of  it  to  procure 
his  own  freedom.  The  critical  posture  of  his  affairs 
made  it  important  that  this  should  not  be  long  delayed. 
His  brother  Huascar,  ever  since  his  defeat,  had  been 
detained  as  a  prisoner,  subject  to  the  victor's  orders. 
He  was  now  at  Andamarca,  at  no  great  distance  from 
Caxamalca ;  and  Atahuallpa  feared,  with  good  reason, 
that,  when  his  own  imprisonment  was  known,  Huascai 


SPLENDID    PROMISES    OF    THE    INCA.       421 

•otild  find  it  easy  to  corrupt  his  guards,  make  his 
escape,  and  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  contested 
empire  without  a  rival  to  dispute  it. 

In  the  hope,  therefore,  to  effect  his  purpose  by  ap- 
pealing to  the  avarice  of  his  keepers,  he  one  day  told 
Pizarro  that  if  he  would  set  him  free  he  would  engage 
to  cover  the  floor  of  the  apartment  on  which  they 
stood  with  gold.  Those  present  listened  with  an  in- 
credulous smile ;  and,  as  the  Inca  received  no  answer, 
he  said,  with  some  emphasis,  that  "he  would  not 
merely  cover  the  floor,  but  would  fill  the  room  with 
gold  as  high  as  he  could  reach  ;"  and,  standing  on  tip- 
toe, he  stretched  out  his  hand  against  the  wall.  All 
^tared  with  amazement ;  while  they  regarded  it  as  the 
insane  boast  of  a  man  too  eager  to  procure  his  liberty 
f'o  weigh  the  meaning  of  his  words.  Yet  Pizarro  was 
sorely  perplexed.  As  he  had  advanced  into  the  country, 
much  that  he  had  seen,  and  all  that  he  had  heard,  had 
confirmed  the  dazzling  reports  first  received  of  the 
riches  of  Peru.  Atahuallpa  himself  had  given  him 
the  most  glowing  picture  of  the  wealth  of  the  capital, 
where  the  roofs  of  the  temples  were  plated  with  gold, 
while  the  walls  were  hung  with  tapestry  and  the  floors 
inlaid  with  tiles  of  the  same  precious  metal.  There 
must  be  some  foundation  for  all  this.  At  all  events, 
it  was  safe  to  accede  to  the  Inca's  proposition ;  since 
by  so  doing  he  could  collect  at  once  all  the  gold  at 
his  disposal,  and  thus  prevent  its  being  purloined  or 
secreted  by  the  natives.  He  therefore  acquiesced  in 
Atahuallpa's  offer,  and,  drawing  a  red  line  along  the 
wall  at  the  height  which  the  Inca  had  indicated,  he 
caused  the  terms  of  the  proposal  to  be  duly  recorded 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  36 


422  CONQUEST   OF   PKRi: 

by  the  notary.  The  apartment  was  about  seventeen 
feet  broad,  by  twenty-two  feet  long,  and  the  line  round 
the  walls  was  nine  feet  from  the  floor.4'  This  space 
was  to  be  filled  with  gold ;  but  it  was  understood  that 
the  gold  was  not  to  be  melted  down  into  ingots,  but  to 
retain  the  original  form  of  the  articles  into  which  it 
was  manufactured,  that  the  Inca  might  have  the  benefit 
of  the  space  which  they  occupied.  He  further  agreed 
to  fill  an  adjoining  room  of  smaller  dimensions  twice 
full  with  silver,  in  like  manner ;  and  he  demanded  two 
months  to  accomplish  all  this.42 

**  I  have  adopted  the  dimensions  given  by  the  secretary  Xeree. 
(Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  202.)  According  to  Hernando 
Pizarro,  the  apartment  was  nine  feet  high,  but  thirty-five  feet  long  by 
seventeen  or  eighteen  feet  wide.  (Carta,  MS.)  The  most  moderate 
estimate  is  large  enough. — Stevenson  says  that  they  still  show  "  a 
large  room,  part  of  the  old  palace,  and  now  the  residence  of  the  Ca- 
cique Astopilca,  where  the  ill-fated  Inca  was  kept  a  prisoner ;"  and  he 
adds  that  the  line  traced  on  the  wall  is  still  visible."  (Residence  in 
South  America,  vol.  ii.  p.  163.)  Peru  abounds  in  remains  as  ancient 
as  the  Conquest ;  and  it  would  not  be  surprising  that  the  memory  of 
a  place  so  remarkable  as  this  should  be  preserved, — though  anything 
but  a  memorial  to  be  cherished  by  the  Spaniards. 

4*  The  facts  in  the  preceding  paragraph  are  told  with  remarkable 
uniformity  by  the  ancient  chroniclers.  (Conf.  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub. 
yConq.,  MS. — Carta  de  Hern.  Pizarro,  MS. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru, 
ap.  Barcia,  ubi  supra. — Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. — Zarate, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  2,  cap.  6. — Gomara,  Hist,  de  l^s  Ind.,  cap.  114. 
— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  2,  cap.  i.) — Both  Naharro  and 
Herrera  state  expressly  that  Pizarro  promised  the  Inca  his  liberation 
on  fulfilling  the  compact.  This  is  not  confirmed  by  the  other  chron- 
iclers, who,  however,  do  not  intimate  that  the  Spanish  general  declined 
the  terms.  And  as  Pizarro,  by  all  accounts,  encouraged  his  prisoner 
to  perform  his  part  of  the  contract,  it  must  have  been  with  the  under- 
standing implied,  if  not  expressed,  that  he  would  abide  by  the  other. 
It  is  most  improbable  that  the  Inca  would  have  stripped  himself  of 
his  treasures,  if  he  had  not  so  understood  it. 


SPLKXDID    PROMISES    OF    THE    I. VGA. 


423 


No  sooner  was  this  arrangement  made  than  the  Inca 
despatched  Couriers  to  Cuzco  and  the  other  principal 
places  in  the  kingdom,  with  orders  that  the  gold  orna- 
ments and  utensils  should  be  removed  from  the  royal 
palaces,  and  from  the  temples  and  other  public  build- 
ings, and  transported  without  loss  of  time  to  Caxa- 
malca.  Meanwhile  he  continued  to  live  in  the  Spanish 
quarters,  treated  with  the  respect  due  to  his  rank,  and 
enjoying  all  the  freedom  that  was  compatible  with  the 
security  of  his  person.  Though  not  permitted  to  go 
abroad,  his  limbs  were  unshackled,  and  he  had  the 
range  of  his  own  apartments  under  the  jealous  surveil- 
lance of  a  guard,  who  knew  too  well  the  value  of  the 
royal  captive  to  be  remiss.  He  was  allowed  the  society 
of  his  favorite  wives,  and  Pizarro  took  care  that  his 
domestic  privacy  should  not  be  violated.  His  sub- 
jects had  free  access  to  their  sovereign,  and  every  day 
he  received  visits  from  the  Indian  nobles,  who  came 
to  bring  presents  and  offer  condolence  to  their  unfortu- 
nate master.  On  such  occasions  the  most  potent  of 
these  great  vassals  never  ventured  into  his  presence 
without  first  stripping  off  their  sandals  and  bearing  a 
load  on  their  backs  in  token  of  reverence.  The  Span- 
iards gazed  with  curious  eyes  on  these  acts  of  homage, 
or  rather  of  slavish  submission,  on  the  one  side,  and 
on  the  air  of  perfect  indifference  with  which  they  were 
received,  as  a  matter  of  course,  on  the  other;  and 
they  conceived  high  ideas  of  the  character  of  a  prince 
who,  even  in  his  present  helpless  condition,  could  in- 
spire such  feelings  of  awe  in  his  subjects.  The  royal 
levee  was  so  well  attended,  and  such  devotion  was 
shown  by  his  vassals  to  the  captive  monarch,  as  did 


424  CONQUEST    OF   PERU. 

not  fail,  in  the  end,  to  excite  some  feelings  of  distrust 
in  his  keepers.43 

Pizarro  did  not  neglect  the  opportunity  afforded  him 
of  communicating  the  truths  of  revelation  to  his  pris- 
oner, and  both  he  and  his  chaplain,  Father  Valverde, 
labored  in  the  same  good  work.  Atahuallpa  listened 
with  composure  and  apparent  attention.  But  nothing 
seemed  to  move  him  so  much  as  the  argument  with 
which  the  military  polemic  closed  his  discourse, — that 
it  could  not  be  the  true  God  whom  Atahuallpa  wor- 
shipped, since  he  had  suffered  him  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  his  enemies.  The  unhappy  monarch  assented 
to  the  force  of  this,  acknowledging  that  his  Deity  had 
indeed  deserted  him  in  his  utmost  need.44 

Yet  his  conduct  towards  his  brother  Huascar  at  this 
time  too  clearly  proves  that,  whatever  respect  he  may 
have  shown  for  the  teachers,  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity had  made  little  impression  on  his  heart.  No 
sooner  had  Huascar  been  informed  of  the  capture  of 
his  rival,  and  of  the  large  ransom  he  had  offered  for 
his  deliverance,  than,  as  the  latter  had  foreseen,  he 
made  every  effort  to  regain  his  liberty,  and  sent,  or 
attempted  to  send,  a  message  to  the  Spanish  com- 
mander, that  he  would  pay  a  much  larger  ransom  than 
that  promised  by  Atahuallpa,  who,  never  having  dwelt 
in  Cuzco,  was  ignorant  of  the  quantity  of  treasure 
there,  and  where  it  was  deposited. 

*3  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. — Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria, 
MS. — Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  2,  cap.  6. 

44  "  I  mas  dijo  Atabalipa,  que  estaba  espantado  de  lo  que  el  Go- 
vernador  le  havia  dicho  :  que  bien  conocia  que  aquel  que  hablaba  en 
su  Idolo,  no  es  Dios  verdadero,  pues  tan  poco  le  aiud6."  Xerez,  Conq. 
del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  203. 


DEATH    OF  HUASCAR.  435 

Intelligence  of  all  this  was  secretly  communicated 
to  Atahuallpa  by  the  persons  who  had  his  brother  in 
charge ;  and  his  jealousy,  thus  roused,  was  further 
heightened  by  Pizarro's  declaration  that  he  intended  to 
have  Huascar  brought  to  Caxamalca,  where  he  would 
himself  examine  into  the  controversy  and  determine 
which  of  the  two  had  the  better  title  to  the  sceptre 
of  the  Incas.  Pizarro  perceived,  from  the  first,  the 
advantages  of  a  competition  which  would  enable  him, 
by  throwing  his  sword  into  the  scale  he  preferred,  to 
give  it  a  preponderance.  The  party  who  held  the 
sceptre  by  his  nomination  would  henceforth  be  a  tool 
in  his  hands,  with  which  to  work  his  pleasure  more 
effectually  than  he  could  well  do  in  his  own  name.  It 
was  the  game,  as  every  reader  knows,  played  by  Ed- 
ward the  First  in  the  affairs  of  Scotland,  and  by  many 
a  monarch  both  before  and  since ;  and,  though  their 
examples  may  not  have  been  familiar  to  the  unlettered 
soldier,  Pizarro  was  too  quick  in  his  perceptions  to 
require,  in  this  matter,  at  least,  the  teachings  of 
history. 

Atahuallpa  was  much  alarmed  by  the  Spanish  com- 
mander's determination  to  have  the  suit  between  the 
rival  candidates  brought  before  him  ;  for  he  feared  that, 
independently  of  the  merits  of  the  case,  the  decision 
would  be  likely  to  go  in  favor  of  Huascar,  whose  mild 
and  ductile  temper  would  make  him  a  convenient  in- 
strument in  the  hands  of  his  conquerors.  Without 
further  hesitation,  he  determined  to  remove  this  cause 
of  jealousy  forever,  by  the  death  of  his  brother. 

His  orders  were  immediately  executed,  and  the  un- 
happy prince  was  drowned,  as  was  commonly  reported, 


426  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

in  the  river  of  Andamarca,  declaring  with  his  dying 
breath  that  the  white  men  would  avenge  his  murder, 
and  that  his  rival  would  not  long  survive  him.45  Thus 
perished  the  unfortunate  Huascar,  the  legitimate  heir 
of  the  throne  of  the  Incas,  in  the  very  morning  of  life, 
and  the  commencement  of  his  reign  ;  a  reign,  however, 
which  had  been  long  enough  to  call  forth  the  display 
of  many  excellent  and  amiable  qualities,  though  his 
nature  was  too  gentle  to  cope  with  the  bold  and  fiercer 
temper  of  his  brother.  Such  is  the  portrait  we  have 
of  him  from  the  Indian  and  Castilian  chroniclers ; 
though  the  former,  it  should  be  added,  were  the  kins- 
men of  Huascar,  and  the  latter  certainly  bore  no  good 
will  to  Atahuallpa.46 " 

That  prince  received  the  tidings  of  Huascar's  death 
with  every  mark  of  surprise  and  indignation.  He 
immediately  sent  for  Pizarro,  and  communicated  the 
event  to  him  with  expressions  of  the  deepest  sorrow. 
The  Spanish  commander  refused,  at  first,  to  credit  the 
unwelcome  news,  and  bluntly  told  the  Inca  that  his 
brother  could  not  be  dead,  and  that  he  should  be 

*s  Both  the  place  and  the  manner  of  Huascar's  death  are  reported 
with  much  discrepancy  by  the  historians.  All  agree  in  the  one  im- 
portant fact  that  he  died  a  violent  death  at  the  instigation  of  his 
brother.  Conf.  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  3,  cap.  2. — Xerez, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  204. — Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub. 
y  Conq.,  MS. — Naharro,  Relacion  sumaria.  MS. — Zarate,  Conq.  del 
Peru,  lib.  2,  cap.  6. — Instruc.  del  Inga  Titucussi,  MS. 

**  Both  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  and  Titucussi  Yupanqui  were  de- 
scendants from  Huayna  Capac,  of  the  pure  Peruvian  stock,  the  natu- 
ral enemies,  therefore,  of  their  kinsman  of  Quito,  whom  they  regarded 
as  a  usurper.  Circumstances  brought  the  Castilians  into  direct  col- 
lision with  Atahuallpa,  and  it  was  natural  they  should  seek  to  darken 
his  reputation  by  contrast  with  the  fair  character  of  his  rival. 


DEATH   OF  HUASCAR. 


427 


answerable  for  his  life.47  To  this  Atahuallpa  replied 
by  renewed  assurances  of  the  fact,  adding  that  the 
deed  had  been  perpetrated,  without  his  privity,  by 
Huascar's  keepers,  fearful  that  he  might  take  advantage 
of  the  troubles  of  the  country  to  make  his  escape. 
Pizarro,  on  making  further  inquiries,  found  that  the 
report  of  his  death  was  but  too  true.  That  it  should 
have  been  brought  about  by  Atahuallpa's  officers  with- 
out his  express  command  would  only  show  that  by  so 
doing  they  had  probably  anticipated  their  master's 
wishes.  The  crime,  which  assumes  in  our  eyes  a 
deeper  dye  from  the  relation  of  the  parties,  had  not 
the  same  estimation  among  the  Incas,  in  whose  multi- 
tudinous families  the  bonds  of  brotherhood  must  have 
sat  loosely, — much  too  loosely  to  restrain  the  arm  of 
the  despot  from  sweeping  away  any  obstacle  that  lay  in 
his  path. 

47  '•  Sabido  esto  por  el  Gobernador,  mostrd,  que  le  pesaba  mucho : 
i  dijoque  era  mentira,  que  no  le  havian  muerto,  que  lo  trujesen  luego 
vivo  :  i  sino,  que  el  mandaria  matar  a  Atabalipa."  Xerez,  Conq.  d»i 
Peru,  ap.  Barcia.  torn.  iii.  p.  204. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

GOLD  ARRIVES  FOR  THE  RANSOM. VISIT  TO  PACHACAMAC. 

— DEMOLITION  OF    THE    IDOL. — THE    INCA's    FAVORITE 

GENERAL. THE    INCA*S    LIFE   IN  CONFINEMENT. EN- 

VOYS'    CONDUCT   IN   CUZCO.— ARRIVAL   OF   ALMAGRO. 

1533- 

SEVERAL  weeks  had  now  passed  since  Atahuallpa's 
emissaries  had  been  despatched  for  the  gold  and  silver 
that  were  to  furnish  his  ransom  to  the  Spaniards.  But 
the  distances  were  great,  and  the  returns  came  in 
slowly.  They  consisted,  for  the  most  part,  of  massive 
pieces  of  plate,  some  of  which  weighed  two  or  three 
arrobas, — a  Spanish  weight  of  twenty-five  pounds.  On 
some  days,  articles  of  the  value  of  thirty  or  forty  thou- 
sand pesos  de  oro  were  brought  in,  and,  occasionally, 
of  the  value  of  fifty  or  even  sixty  thousand  pesos.  The 
greedy  eyes  of  the  Conquerors  gloated  on  the  shining 
heaps  of  treasure,  which  were  transported  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  Indian  porters,  and,  after  being  carefully 
registered,  were  placed  in  safe  deposit  under  a  strong 
guard.  They  now  began  to  believe  that  the  magnifi- 
cent promises  of  the  Inca  would  be  fulfilled.  But,  as 
cheir  avarice  was  sharpened  by  the  ravishing  display  of 
wealth  such  as  they  had  hardly  dared  to  imagine,  they 
became  more  craving  and  impatient.  They  made  no 
allowance  for  the  distance  and  the  difficulties  of  the 
way,  and  loudly  inveighed  against  the  tardiness  with 
(428) 


COLD    ./A'AV/7-..V    FOR    THE    XA.VSOM. 


429 


which  the  royal  commands  were  executed.  They  even 
suspected  Atahuallpa  of  devising  this  scheme  only  to 
gain  a  pretext  for  communicating  with  his  subjects  in 
distant  places,  and  of  proceeding  as  dilatorily  as  pos- 
sible, in  order  to  secure  time  for  the  execution  of  his 
plans.  Rumors  of  a  rising  among  the  Peruvians  were 
circulated,  and  the  Spaniards  were  in  apprehension  of 
some  general  and  sudden  assault  on  their  quarters. 
Their  new  acquisitions  gave  them  additional  cause  for 
solicitude  :  like  a  miser,  they  trembled  in  the  midst  of 
their  treasures.1 

Pizarro  reported  to  his  captive  the  rumors  that  were 
in  circulation  among  the  soldiers,  naming,  as  one  of 
the  places  pointed  out  for  the  rendezvous  of  the  In- 
dians, the  neighboring  city  of  Huamachuco.  Ata- 
huallpa listened  with  undisguised  astonishment,  and 
indignantly  repelled  the  charge,  as  false  from  begin- 
ning to  end.  "  No  one  of  my  subjects,"  said  he, 
"would  dare  to  appear  in  arms,  or  to  raise  his  finger, 
without  my  orders.  You  have  me,"  he  continued, 
"in  your  power.  Is  not  my  life  at  your  disposal? 
And  what  better  security  can  you  have  for  my  fidelity?" 
He  then  represented  to  the  Spanish  commander  that 
the  distances  of  many  of  the  places  were  very  great ; 
that  to  Cuzco,  the  capital,  although  a  message  might 
be  sent  by  post,  through  a  succession  of  couriers,  in 
five  days  from  Caxamalca,  it  would  require  weeks  for  a 
porter  to  travel  over  the  same  ground  with  a  heavy 
load  on  his  back.  "  But,  that  you  may  be  satisfied  I 
am  proceeding  in  good  faith,"  he  added,  "I  desire 

'  Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  2,  cap.  6.— Naharro,  Relacion  suma- 
ria,  MS.— Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  204. 


430  CONQUEST    OI<    PERU. 

you  will  send  some  of  your  own  people  to  Cuzco.  I 
will  give  them  a  safe-conduct,  and,  when  there,  they 
can  superintend  the  execution  of  the  commission,  and 
see  with  their  own  eyes  that  no  hostile  movements  are 
intended."  It  was  a  fair  offer  ;  and  Pizarro,  anxious  to 
get  more  precise  and  authentic  information  of  the  state 
of  the  country,  gladly  availed  himself  of  it.2 

Before  the  departure  of  these  emissaries,  the  general 
had  despatched  his  brother  Hernando  with  about  twenty 
horse  and  a  small  body  of  infantry  to  the  neighboring 
town  of  Huamachuco,  in  order  to  reconnoitre  the 
country  and  ascertain  if  there  was  any  truth  in  the  re- 
port of  an  armed  force  having  assembled  there.  Her- 
nando found  every  thing  quiet,  and  met  with  a  kind 
reception  from  the  natives.  But  before  leaving  the 
place  he  received  further  orders  from  his  brother  to 
continue  his  march  to  Pachacamac,  a  town  situated  on 
the  coast,  at  least  a  hundred  leagues  distant  from  Caxa- 
malca.  It  was  consecrated  as  the  seat  of  the  great 
temple  of  the  deity  of  that  name,  whom  the  Peruvians 
worshipped  as  the  Creator  of  the  world.  It  is  said 
that  they  found  there  altars  raised  to  this  god,  on  their 
first  occupation  of  the  country ;  and  such  was  the  ven- 
eration in  which  he  was  held  by  the  natives  that  the 
Incas,  instead  of  attempting  to  abolish  his  worship, 
deemed  it  more  prudent  to  sanction  it  conjointly  with 
that  of  their  own  deity,  the  Sun.  Side  by  side  the  two 
temples  rose  on  the  heights  that  overlooked  the  city  of 
Pachacamac,  and  prospered  in  the  offerings  of  their 
respective  rotaries.  "It  was  a  cunning  arrange- 

2  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap. 
Barcia,  torn.  iii.  pp.  203,  204.— Naharro.  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. 


VISIT    TO    PACHACAMAC.  431 

ment,"  says  an  ancient  writer,  "by  which  the  great 
enemy  of  man  secured  to  himself  a  double  harvest  of 
soils."3 

But  the  temple  of  Pachacamac  continued  to  maintain 
its  ascendency  ;  and  the  oracles  delivered  from  its  dark 
and  mysterious  shrine  were  held  in  no  less  repute  among 
the  natives  of  Tavantinsuyu  (or  "the  four  quarters  of 
the  world,"  as  Peru  under  the  Incas  was  called)  than 
the  oracles  of  Delphi  obtained  among  the  Greeks. 
Pilgrimages  were  made  to  the  hallowed  spot  from  the 
most  distant  regions,  and  the  city  of  Pachacamac  be- 
came among  the  Peruvians  what  Mecca  was  among  the 
Mahometans,  or  Cholula  with  the  people  of  Anahuac. 
The  shrine  of  the  deity,  enriched  by  the  tributes  of 
the  pilgrims,  gradually  became  one  of  the  most  opulent 
in  the  land ;  and  Atahuallpa,  anxious  to  collect  his 
ransom  as  speedily  as  possible,  urged  Pizarro  to  send  a 
detachment  in  that  direction,  to  secure  the  treasures 
before  they  could  be  secreted  by  the  priests  of  the 
temple. 

It  was  a  journey  of  considerable  difficulty.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  route  lay  along  the  table-land  of  the 
Cordilleras,  intersected  occasionally  by  crests  of  the 
mountain-range,  that  imposed  no  slight  impediment 
to  their  progress.  «  Fortunately,  much  of  the  way 
they  had  the  benefit  of  the  great  road  to  Cuzco ;  and 
"nothing  in  Christendom,"  exclaims  Hernando  Pi- 
zarro, "equals  the  magnificence  of  this  road  across 

3  "  El  demonic  Pachacama  alegre  con  este  concierto,  afirman  que 
mostraua  en  sus  respuestas  gran  contento  :  pues  con  lo  vno  y  lo  otro 
era  el  seruido,  y  quedauan  las  animas  de  los  simples  malauenturados 
presas  en  su  poder,"  Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  72. 


432  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

the  sierra. " 4  In  some  places  the  rocky  ridges  were  so 
precipitous  that  steps  were  cut  in  them  for  the  travel- 
lers, and,  though  the  sides  were  protected  by  heavy 
stone  balustrades  or  parapets,  it  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  the  horses  were  enabled  to  scale  them. 
The  road  was  frequently  crossed  by  streams,  over  which 
bridges  of  wood  and  sometimes  of  stone  were  thrown ; 
though  occasionally,  along  the  declivities  of  the  moun- 
tains, the  waters  swept  down  in  such  furious  torrents 
that  the  only  method  of  passing  them  was  by  the 
swinging  bridges  of  osier,  of  which  till  now  the  Span- 
iards had  had  little  experience.  They  were  secured  on 
either  bank  to  heavy  buttresses  of  stone.  But  as  they 
were  originally  designed  for  nothing  heavier  than  the 
foot-passenger  and  the  llama,  and  as  they  had  some- 
thing exceedingly  fragile  in  their  appearance,  the 
Spaniards  hesitated  to  venture  on  them  with  their 
horses.  Experience,  however,  soon  showed  they  were 
capable  of  bearing  a  much  greater  weight ;  and  though 
the  traveller,  made  giddy  by  the  vibration  of  the  long 
avenue,  looked  with  a  reeling  brain  into  the  torrent 
that  was  tumbling  at  the  depth  of  a  hundred  feet  or 
more  below  him,  the  whole  of  the  cavalry  effected 
their  passage  without  an  accident.  At  these  bridges, 
it  may  be  remarked,  they  found  persons  stationed  whose 
business  it  was  to  collect  toll  for  the  government  from 
all  travellers.3 

*  "  El  camino  de  las  sierras  es  cosa  de  ver,  porque  en  verdad  en 
tierra  tan  fragosa  en  la  cristiandad  no  se  ban  visto  tan  hermosos  cami- 
nos,  toda  la  mayor  parte  de  calzada."  Carta,  MS. 

5  "  Todoslos  arroyos  tienen  puentes  de  piedra  6  de  madera :  en  un 
rio  grande,  que  era  muy  caudaloso  e  muy  grande,  que  pasamos  dos 
veces, hallamos  puentes  de  red, que  es  cosa  maravillosa de  ver;  pasa- 


VISIT    TO    PACHACAMAC.  433 

The  Spaniards  were  amazed  by  the  number  as  well 
as  magnitude  of  the  flocks  of  llamas  which  they  saw 
browsing  on  the  stunted  herbage  that  grows  in  the 
elevated  regions  of  the  Andes.  Sometimes  they  were 
gathered  in  enclosures,  but  more  usually  were  roaming 
at  large  under  the  conduct  of  their  Indian  shepherds ; 
and  the  Conquerors  now  learned,  for  the  first  time, 
that  these  animals  were  tended  with  as  much  care,  and 
their  migrations  as  nicely  regulated,  as  those  of  the 
vast  flocks  of  merinos  in  their  own  country.6 

The  table-land  and  its  declivities  were  thickly 
sprinkled  with  hamlets  and  towns,  some  of  them  of 
considerable  size ;  and  the  country  in  every  direction 
bore  the  marks  of  a  thrifty  husbandry.  Fields  of 
Indian  corn  were  to  be  seen  in  all  its  different  stages, 
from  the  green  and  tender  ear  to  the  yellow  ripeness 
of  harvest-time.  As  they  descended  into  the  valleys 
and  deep  ravines  that  divided  the  crests  of  the  Cor- 
dilleras, they  were  surrounded  by  the  vegetation  of  a 
warmer  climate,  which  delighted  the  eye  with  the  gay 
livery  of  a  thousand  bright  colors  and  intoxicated  the 
senses  with  its  perfumes.  Everywhere  the  natural 
capacities  of  the  soil  were  stimulated  by  a  minute 
mos  por  ellas  los  caballos  ;  tienen  en  cada  pasaje  dos  puentes,  la  una 
por  donde  pasa  la  gente  comun,  la  otra  por  donde  pasa  el  senor  de  la 
tierra  6  sus  capitanes :  esta  tienen  siempre  cerrada  e  indios  que  la 
guardan  ;  estos  indios  cobran  portazgo  de  los  que  pasan."  Carta  dc 
Hern.  Pizarro,  MS.— Also  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 

6  A  comical  blunder  has  been  made  by  the  printer,  in  M.  Ternaux- 
Compans'  excellent  translation  of  Xerez,  in  the  account  of  this  ex- 
pedition :  "On  trouve  sur  toute  la  route  beaucoup  de  pores,  de 
lamas."  (Relation  de  la  Conquete  du  Perou,  p.  157.)  The  substitu- 
tion of  pores  for  pares  might  well  lead  the  reader  into  the  error  of 
supposing  that  swine  existed  in  Peru  before  the  Conquest. 
Peru.— VOL.  I. — i1  37 


434  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

system  of  irrigation,  which  drew  the  fertilizing  moist- 
ure from  every  stream  and  rivulet  that  rolled  down 
the  declivities  of  the  Andes ;  while  the  terraced  sides 
of  the  mountains  were  clothed  with  gardens  and 
orchards  that  teemed  with  fruits  of  various  latitudes. 
The  Spaniards  could  not  sufficiently  admire  the  indus- 
try with  which  the  natives  had  availed  themselves  of 
the  bounty  of  Nature,  or  had  supplied  the  deficiency 
where  she  had  dealt  with  a  more  parsimonious  hand. 

Whether  from  the  commands  of  the  Inca,  or  from 
the  awe  which  their  achievements  had  spread  through- 
out the  land,  the  Conquerors  were  received,  in  every 
place  through  which  they  passed,  with  hospitable  kind- 
ness. Lodgings  were  provided  for  them,  with  ample 
refreshments  from  the  well-stored  magazines  distributed 
at  intervals  along  the  route.  In  many  of  the  towns  the 
inhabitants  came  out  to  welcome  them  with  singing 
and  dancing,  and,  when  they  resumed  their  march,  a 
number  of  able-bodied  porters  were  furnished  to  carry 
forward  their  baggage.7 

At  length,  after  some  weeks  of  travel,  severe  even 
with  all  these  appliances,  Hernando  Pizarro  arrived 
before  the  city  of  Pachacamac.  It  was  a  place  of 
considerable  population,  and  the  edifices  were,  many 
of  them,  substantially  built.  The  temple  of  the  tutelar 
deity  consisted  of  a  vast  stone  building,  or  rather  pile 
of  buildings,  which,  clustering  around  a  conical  hill, 

7  Carta  de  Hernando  Pizarro,  MS. — Estete,  ap.  Barcia,  torn,  iii.pp. 
206,  207. — Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. — Both  the  last-cited 
author  and  Miguel  Estete,  the  royal  veedoror  inspector,  accompanied 
Hernando  Pizarro  on  this  expedition,  and,  of  course,  were  eye-wit- 
nesses, like  himself,  of  what  they  relate.  Estete's  narrative  is  incor- 
porated by  the  secretary  Xerez  in  his  own. 


VISIT    TO    PACHACAMAC, 


435 


had  the  air  of  a  fortress  rather  than  a  religious  estab- 
lishment. But,  though  the  walls  were  of  stone,  the 
roof  was  composed  of  a  light  thatch,  as  usual  in 
countries  where  rain  seldom  or  never  falls,  and  where 
defence,  consequently,  is  wanted  chiefly  against  the 
rays  of  the  sun. 

Presenting  himself  at  the  lower  entrance  of  the 
temple,  Hernando  Pizarro  was  refused  admittance  by 
the  guardians  of  the  portal.  But,  exclaiming  that  "he 
had  come  too  far  to  be  stayed  by  the  arm  of  an  Indian 
priest,"  he  forced  his  way  into  the  passage,  and, 
followed  by  his  men,  wound  up  the  gallery  which  led 
to  an  area  on  the  summit  of  the  mount,  at  one  end  of 
which  stood  a  sort  of  chapel.  This  was  the  sanctuary 
of  the  dread  deity.  The  door  was  garnished  with 
ornaments  of  crystal  and  with  turquoises  and  bits  of 
coral.8  Here  again  the  Indians  would  have  dissuaded 
Pizarro  from  violating -the  consecrated  precincts,  when 
at  that  moment  the  shock  of  an  earthquake,  that 
made  the  ancient  walls  tremble  to  their  foundation,  so 
alarmed  the  natives,  both  those  of  Pizarro' s  own 
company  and  the  people  of  the  place,  that  they  fled 
in  dismay,  nothing  doubting  that  their  incensed  deity 
would  bury  the  invaders  under  the  ruins  or  consume 
them  with  his  lightnings.  But  no  such  terror  found 
its  way  into  the  breasts  of  the  Conquerors,  who  felt 
that  here,  at  least,  they  were  fighting  the  good  fight  of 
the  Faith. 

Tearing  open  the  door,  Pizarro  and  his  party  en 
tered.  But,  instead  of  a  hall  blazing,  as  they  had  fondly 

8  "  Esta  puerta  era  muy  tejida  de  diversas  cosas  de  corales  y  turque- 
sas  y  cristales  y  otras  cosas."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


436  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

imagined,  with  gold  and  precious  stones,  offerings  of 
the  worshippers  of  Pachacamac,  they  found  themselves 
in  a  small  and  obscure  apartment,  or  rather  den,  from 
the  floor  and  sides  of  which  steamed  up  the  most  offen- 
sive odors, — like  those  of  a  slaughter-house.  It  was 
the  place  of  sacrifice.  A  few  pieces  of  gold  and  some 
emeralds  were  discovered  on  the  ground,  and,  as  their 
eyes  became  accommodated  to  the  darkness,  they  dis- 
cerned in  the  most  retired  corner  of  the  room  the 
figure  of  the  deity.  It  was  an  uncouth  monster,  made 
of  wood,  with  the  head  resembling  that  of  a  man.  This 
was  the  god  through  whose  lips  Satan  had  breathed 
forth  the  far-famed  oracles  which  had  deluded  his 
Indian  votaries  ! 9 

Tearing  the  idol  from  its  recess,  the  indignant  Span- 
iards dragged.it  into  the  open  air  and  there  broke  it 
into  a  hundred  fragments.  The  place  was  then  puri- 
fied, and  a  large  cross,  made  of  stone  and  plaster,  was 
erected  on  the  spot.  In  a  few  years  the  walls  of  the 
temple  were  pulled  down  by  the  Spanish  settlers,  who 
found  there  a  convenient  quarry  for  their  own  edifices. 
But  the  cross  still  remained  spreading  its  broad  arms 
over  the  ruins.  It  stood  where  it  was  planted  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  stronghold  of  heathendom ;  and, 
while  all  was  in  ruins  around  it,  it  proclaimed  the 
permanent  triumphs  of  the  Faith. 

9  "  Aquel  era  Pachacama,  el  cual  les  sanaba  de  sus  enfermedades, 
y  a  lo  que  alii  se  entendio,  el  Demonio  aparecia  en  aquella  cueba  & 
aquellos  sacerdotes  y  hablaba  con  ellos,  y  estos  entraban  con  las  peti- 
ciones  y  ofrendas  de  los  que  venian  en  romeria,  que  es  cierto  que  del 
todo  el  Senorio  de  Atabalica  iban  alii,  como  los  Moros  y  Turcos  van 
a  lacasa  de  Meca."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. — Also  Estete, 
ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  209. 


TREASURE    OBTAINED.  437 

The  simple  natives,  finding  that  Heaven  had  no 
bolts  in  store  for  the  Conquerors,  and  that  their  god 
had  no  power  to  prevent  the  profanation  of  his  shrine, 
came  in  gradually  and  tendered  their  homage  to  the 
strangers,  whom  they  now  regarded  with  feelings  of 
superstitious  awe.  Pizarro  profited  by  this  temper  to 
wean  them,  if  possible,  from  their  idolatry;  and, 
though  no  preacher  himself,  as  he  tells  us,  he  delivered 
a  discourse  as  edifying,  doubtless,  as  could  be  expected 
from  the  mouth  of  a  soldier ; 10  and,  in  conclusion,  he 
taught  them  the  sign  of  the  cross,  as  an  inestimable 
talisman  to  secure  them  against  the  future  machinations 
of  the  devil." 

But  the  Spanish  commander  was  not  so  absorbed  in 
his  spiritual  labors  as  not  to  have  an  eye  to  those  tem- 
poral concerns  for  which  he  had  been  sent  to  this  quarter. 
He  now  found,  to  his  chagrin,  that  he  had  come  some- 
what too  late,  and  that  the  priests  of  Pachacamac, 
being  advised  of  his  mission,  had  secured  much  the 
greater  part  of  the  gold  and  decamped  with  it  before 
his  arrival.  A  quantity  was  afterwards  discovered 
buried  in  the  grounds  adjoining."  Still,  the  amount 
obtained  was  considerable,  falling  little  short  of  eighty 
thousand  castellanos,  a  sum  which  once  would  have 

10  "  £  d  falta  de  predicador  les  hice  mi  sermon,  diciendo  el  engafio 
en  que  vivian."  Carta  de  Hern.  Pizarro,  MS. 

»  Ibid.,  MS.— Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS.— Estete,  ap.  Bar- 
cia,  torn.  iii.  p.  209. 

"  "  Y  andando  los  tiepos  el  capitan  Rodrigo  Orgonez.  y  Francisco 
de  Godoy,  y  otros  sacaron  gra  summa  de  oro  y  plata  de  los  enterra- 
mientos.  Y  aun  se  presume  y  tiene  por  cierto,  que  ay  mucho  mas  : 
pero  como  no  se  sabe  donde  esta  enterrado,  se  pierde."  Cieza  de 
Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  72. 

37* 


438  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

been  deemed  a  compensation  for  greater  fatigues  than 
they  had  encountered.  But  the  Spaniards  had  become 
familiar  with  gold  ;  and  their  imaginations,  kindled  by 
the  romantic  adventures  in  which  they  had  of  late  been 
engaged,  indulged  in  visions  which  all  the  gold  of  Peru 
would  scarcely  have  realized. 

One  prize,  however,  Hernando  obtained  by  his  expe- 
dition, which  went  far  to  console  him  for  the  loss  of 
his  treasure.  While  at  Pachacamac,  he  learned  that 
the  Indian  commander  Challcuchima  lay  with  a  large 
force  in  the  neighborhood  of  Xauxa,  a  town  of 
some  strength  at  a  considerable  distance  among  the 
mountains.  This  man,  who  was  nearly  related  to 
Atahuallpa,  was  his  most  experienced  general,  and, 
together  with  Quizquiz,  now  at  Cuzco,  had  achieved 
those  victories  at  the  south  which  placed  the  Inca  on 
the  throne.  From  his  birth,  his  talents,  and  his  large 
experience,  he  was  accounted  second  to  no  subject  in 
the  kingdom.  Pizarro  was  aware  of  the  importance  of 
securing  his  person.  Finding  that  the  Indian  noble 
declined  to  meet  him  on  his  return,  he  determined  to 
march  at  once  on  Xauxa  and  take  the  chief  in  his  own 
quarters.  Such  a  scheme,  considering  the  enormous 
disparity  of  numbers,  might  seem  desperate  even  for 
Spaniards.  But  success  had  given  them  such  confi- 
dence that  they  hardly  condescended  to  calculate 
chances. 

The  road  across  the  mountains  presented  greater 
difficulties  than  those  on  the  former  march.  To  add 
to  the  troubles  of  the  cavalry,  the  shoes  of  their  horses 
were  worn  out,  and  their  hoofs  suffered  severely  on  the 
rough  and  stony  ground.  There  was  no  iron  at  hand, 


THE    INCA'S   FAVORITE    GENERAL. 


439 


nothing  but  gold  and  silver.  In  the  present  emergency 
they  turned  even  these  to  account ;  and  Pizarro  caused 
the  horses  of  the  whole  troop  to  be  shod  with  silver. 
The  work  was  done  by  the  Indian  smiths,  and  it 
answered  so  well  that  in  this  precious  material  they 
found  a  substitute  for  iron  during  the  remainder  of  the 
march.'3 

Xauxa  was  a  large  and  populous  place ;  though  we 
shall  hardly  credit  the  assertion  of  the  Conquerors,  that 
a  hundred  thousand  persons  assembled  habitually  in 
the  great  square  of  the  city.14  The  Peruvian  com- 
mander was  encamped,  it  was  said,  with  an  army  of 
five-and-thirty  thousand  men,  at  only  a  few  miles' 
distance  from  the  town.  With  some  difficulty  he  was 
persuaded  to  an  interview  with  Pizarro.  The  latter 
addressed  him  courteously,  and  urged  his  return  with 
him  to  the  Castilian  quarters  in  Caxamalca,  repre- 
senting it  as  the  command  of  the  Inca.  Ever  since 
the  capture  of  his  master,  Challcuchima  had  remained 
uncertain  what  course  to  take.  The  capture  of  the 
Inca  in  this  sudden  and  mysterious  manner  by  a  race 


'3  "  Hicieron  hacer  herrage  de  herraduras  e  clavos  parasus  Caballos 
de  Plata,  los  cuales  hicieron  los  cien  Indies  fundidores  muy  buenos  e 
cuantosquisieronde  ellos,  conelcual  herrage  andubierondosmeses." 
(Oviedo,  Hist,  delas  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  16.)  The  author 
of  the  Relacion  del  primer  Descubrimiento,  MS.,  says  they  shod  the 
horses  with  silver  and  copper.  And  another  of  the  Peruvian  Conquer- 
ors assures  us  they  used  gold  and  silver.  (Relatione  d'un  Capitano 
Spagnuolo  ap.  Ramusio,  Navigation!  et  Viaggi,  Venetia,  1565,  torn, 
iii.  fol.  376.)  All  agree  as  to  the  silver. 

'4  "  Era  mucha  la  Gente  de  aquel  Pueblo,  i  de  sus  Comarcas,  que 
al  parecer  de  los  Espanoles,  se  juntaban  cada  Dia  en  la  Pla9a  Princi- 
pal cien  mil  Personas."  Estete,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  ,230. 


440  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

of  beings  who  seemed  to  have  dropped  from  the 
clouds,  and  that  too  in  the  very  hour  of  his  triumph, 
had  entirely  bewildered  the  Peruvian  chief.  He  had 
concerted  no  plan  for  the  rescue  of  Atahuallpa,  nor, 
indeed,  did  he  know  whether  any  such  movement 
would  be  acceptable  to  him.  He  now  acquiesced 
in  his  commands,  and  was  willing,  at  all  events,  to 
have  a  personal  interview  with  his  sovereign.  Pizarro 
gained  his  end  without  being  obliged  to  strike  a  single 
blow  to  effect  it.  The  barbarian,  when  brought  into 
contact  with  the  white  man,  would  seem  to  have  been 
rebuked  by  his  superior  genius,  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  wild  animal  of  the  forest  is  said  to  quail  before  the 
steady  glance  of  the  hunter. 

Challcuchima  came  attended  by  a  numerous  retinue. 
He  was  borne  in  his  sedan  on  the  shoulders  of  his 
vassals,  and,  as  he  accompanied  the  Spaniards  on 
their  return  through  the  country,  received  every- 
where from  the  inhabitants  the  homage  paid  only  to 
the  favorite  of  a  monarch.  Yet  all  this  pomp  vanished 
on  his  entering  the  presence  of  the  Inca,  whom  he 
approached  with  his  feet  bare,  while  a  light  burden, 
which  he  had  taken  from  one  of  the  attendants,  was 
laid  on  his  back.  As  he  drew  near,  the  old  warrior, 
raising  his  hands  to  heaven,  exclaimed,  "  Would  that  I 
had  been  here  ! — this  would  not  then  have  happened  ;" 
then,  kneeling  down,  he  kissed  the  hands  and  feet  of 
his  royal  master  and  bathed  them  with  his  tears.  Ata- 
huallpa, on  his  part,  betrayed  not  the  least  emotion, 
and  showed  no  other  sign  of  satisfaction  at  the  pres- 
ence of  his  favorite  counsellor  than  by  simply  bidding 
him  welcome.  The  cold  demeanor  of  the  monarch 


THE    INCA'S    LIFE    IN  CONFINEMENT.      441 

contrasted  strangely  with  the  loyal  sensibility  of  the 
subject.'5 

The  rank  of  the  Inca  placed  him  at  an  immeasurable 
distance  above  the  proudest  of  his  vassals;  and  the 
Spaniards  had  repeated  occasion  to  admire  the  ascend- 
ency which,  even  in  his  present  fallen  fortunes,  he 
maintained  over  his  people,  and  the  awe  with  which 
they  approached  him.  Pedro  Pizarro  records  an  in- 
terview, at  which  he  was  present,  between  Atahuallpa 
and  one  of  his  great  nobles,  who  had  obtained  leave  to 
visit  some  remote  part  of  the  country  on  condition  of 
returning  by  a  certain  day.  He  was  detained  some- 
what beyond  the  appointed  time,  and  on  entering  the 
presence  with  a  small  propitiatory  gift  for  his  sovereign 
his  knees  shook  so  violently  that  it  seemed,  says  the 
chronicler,  as  if  he  would  have  fallen  to  the  ground. 
His  master,  however,  received  him  kindly,  and  dis- 
missed him  without  a  word  of  rebuke.16 

Atahuallpa  in  his  confinement  continued  to  receive 
the  same  respectful  treatment  from  the  Spaniards  as 
hitherto.  They  taught  him  to  play  with  dice,  and  the 
more  intricate  game  of  chess,  in  which  the  royal 
captive  became  expert,  and  loved  to  beguile  with  it 
the  tedious  hours  of  his  imprisonment.  Towards  his 
own  people  he  maintained  as  far  as  possible  his  wonted 
state  and  ceremonial.  He  was  attended  by  his  wives 
and  the  girls  of  his  harem,  who,  as  was  customary, 
waited  on  him  at  table  and  discharged  the  other  menial 

>s  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.—"  The  like  of  it,"  exclaims 
Estete,  "was  never  before  seen  since  the  Indies  were  discovered." 
Ibid.,  p.  231. 

'«  Pedro  Piznrro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 

T* 


442  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

offices  about  his  person.  A  body  of  Indian  nobles 
were  stationed  in  the  antechamber,  but  never  entered 
the  presence  unbidden ;  and  when  they  did  enter  it 
they  submitted  to  the  same  humiliating  ceremonies 
imposed  on  the  greatest  of  his  subjects.  The  service 
of  his  table  was  gold  and  silver  plate.  His  dress, 
which  he  often  changed,  was  composed  of  the  wool  of 
the  vicuna  wrought  into  mantles,  so  fine  that  it  had 
the  appearance  of  silk.  He  sometimes  exchanged 
these  for  a  robe  made  of  the  skins  of  bats,  as  soft  and 
sleek  as  velvet.  Round  his  head  he  wore  the  //autu,  a 
woollen  turban  or  shawl  of  the  most  delicate  texture, 
wreathed  in  folds  of  various  bright  colors ;  and  he 
still  continued  to  encircle  his  temples  with  the  borla, 
the  crimson  threads  of  which,  mingled  with  gold, 
descended  so  as  partly  to  conceal  his  eyes.  The 
image  of  royalty  had  charms  for  him,  when  its  sub- 
stance had  departed.  No  garment  or  utensil  that  had 
once  belonged  to  the  Peruvian  sovereign  could  ever  be 
used  by  another.  When  he  laid  it  aside,  it  was  care- 
fully deposited  in  a  chest,  kept  for  the  purpose,  and 
afterwards  burned.  It  would  have  been  sacrilege  to 
apply  to  vulgar  uses  that  which  had  been  consecrated 
by  the  touch  of  the  Inca.17 

Not  long  after  the  arrival  of  the  party  from  Pacha- 
camac,  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  the  three  emissaries 
returned  from  Cuzco.  They  had  been  very  successful 
in  their  mission.  Owing  to  the  Inca's  order,  and  the 

'7  This  account  of  the  personal  habits  of  Atahuallpa  is  taken  from 
Pedro  Pizarro,  who  saw  him  often  in  his  confinement.  As  his  curious 
narrative  is  little  known,  I  have  extracted  the  original  in  Appendix 
No.  9. 


EA' TOYS'    COXIH'CT   IX    CUZCO.  443 

awe  which  the  white  men  now  inspired  throughout  the 
country,  the  Spaniards  had  everywhere  met  with  a  kind 
reception.  They  had  been  carried  on  the  shoulders  of 
the  natives  in  the  hamacas,  or  sedans,  of  the  country ; 
and,  as  they  had  travelled  all  the  way  to  the  capital  on 
the  great  imperial  road,  along  which  relays  of  Indian 
carriers  were  established  at  stated  intervals,  they  per- 
formed this  journey  of  more  than  six  hundred  miles, 
not  only  without  inconvenience,  but  with  the  most 
luxurious  ease.  They  passed  through  many  populous 
towns,  and  always  found  the  simple  natives  disposed  to 
venerate  them  as  beings  of  a  superior  nature.  In  Cuzco 
they  were  received  with  public  festivities,  were  sump- 
tuously lodged,  and  had  every  want  anticipated  by  the 
obsequious  devotion  of  the  inhabitants. 

Their  accounts  of  the  capital  confirmed  all  that 
Pizarro  had  before  heard  of  the  wealth  and  population 
of  the  city.  Though  they  had  remained  more  than  a 
week  in  this  place,  the  emissaries  had  not  seen  the 
whole  of  it.  The  great  temple  of  the  Sun  they  found 
literally  covered  with  plates  of  gold.  They  had  entered 
the  interior  and  beheld  the  royal  mummies,  seated  each 
in  his  gold-embossed  chair  and  in  robes  profusely  cov- 
ered with  ornaments.  The  Spaniards  had  the  grace  to 
respect  these,  as  they  had  been  previously  enjoined  by 
the  Inca  ;  but  they  required  that  the  plates  which  gar- 
nished the  walls  should  be  all  removed.  The  Peru- 
vians most  reluctantly  acquiesced  in  the  commands  of 
their  sovereign  to  desecrate  the  national  temple,  which 
every  inhabitant  of  the  city  regarded  with  peculiar 
pride  and  veneration.  With  less  reluctance  they  as- 
sisted the  Conquerors  in  stripping  the  ornaments  from 


444  CONQUEST   OP   PERU. 

some  of  the  other  edifices,  where  the  gold,  however, 
being  mixed  with  a  larger  proportion  of  alloy,  was  of 
much  less  value.18 

The  number  of  plates  they  tore  from  the  temple  of 
the  Sun  was  seven  hundred ;  and  though  of  no  great 
thickness,  probably,  they  are  compared  in  size  to  the 
lid  of  a  chest,  ten  or  twelve  inches  wide.'9  A  cornice 
of  pure  gold  encircled  the  edifice,  but  so  strongly  set 
in  the  stone  that  it  fortunately  defied  the  efforts  of  the 
spoilers.  The  Spaniards  complained  of  the  want  of 
alacrity  shown  by  the  Indians  in  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion, and  said  that  there  were  other  parts  of  the  city 
containing  buildings  rich  in  gold  and  silver  which  they 
had  not  been  allowed  to  see.  In  truth,  their  mission, 
which  at  best  was  a  most  ungrateful  one,  had  been 
rendered  doubly  annoying  by  the  manner  in  which 
they  had  executed  it.  The  emissaries  were  men  of  a 
very  low  stamp,  and,  puffed  up  by  the  honors  conceded 
to  them  by  the  natives,  they  looked  on  themselves  as 
entitled  to  these,  and  contemned  the  poor  Indians  as 
a  race  immeasurably  beneath  the  European.  They  not 
only  showed  the  most  disgusting  rapacity,  but  treated 
the  highest  nobles  with  wanton  insolence.  They  even 
went  so  far,  it  is  said,  as  to  violate  the  privacy  of  the 
convents,  and  to  outrage  the  religious  sentiments  of 
the  Peruvians  by  their  scandalous  amours  with  the 
Virgins  of  the  Sun.  The  people  of  Cuzco  were  so 

18  Rel.  d'un  Capitano  Spagn.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  375. — Pedro 
Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  2. 
cap.  12,  13. 

•9  "  I  de  las  Chapas  de  oro,  que  esta  Casa  tenia,  quitaron  setecientas 
Planchas  ...  a  manera  de  Tablas  de  Caxas  de  k  tres,  i  a  quatro 
palmos  de  largo."  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia.  torn.  iii.  p.  232. 


ENVOYS'    CONDUCT   IN    CUZCO.  445 

exasperated  that  they  would  have  laid  violent  hands  on 
them,  but  for  their  habitual  reverence  for  the  Inca,  in 
whose  name  the  Spaniards  had  come  there.  As  it  was, 
the  Indians  collected  as  much  gold  as  was  necessary  to 
satisfy  their  unworthy  visitors,  and  got  rid  of  them  as 
speedily  as  possible.20  It  was1  a  great  mistake  in  Pizarro 
to  send  such  men.  There  were  persons,  even  in  his 
company,  who,  as  other  occasions  showed,  had  some 
sense  of  self-respect,  if  not  respect  for  the  natives. 

The  messengers  brought  with  them,  besides  silver, 
full  two  hundred  cargas  or  loads  of  gold.21  This  was 
an  important  accession  to  the  contributions  of  Ata- 
huallpa ;  and,  although  the  treasure  was  still  consider- 
ably below  the  mark  prescribed,  the  monarch  saw  with 
satisfaction  the  time  drawing  nearer  for  the  completion 
of  his  ransom. 

Not  long  before  this,  an  event  had  occurred  which 
changed  the  condition  of  the  Spaniards  and  had  an 
unfavorable  influence  on  the  fortunes  of  the  Inca. 
This  was  the  arrival  of  Almagro  at  Caxamalca,  with  a 
strong  reinforcement.  That  chief  had  succeeded,  aftw 
great  efforts,  in  equipping  three  vessels  and  assembling 
a  body  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  with  which  he 
sailed  from  Panama  the  latter  part  of  the  preceding 
year.  On  his  voyage  he  was  joined  by  a  small  addi- 

20  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  ubi  supra. 

31  So  says  Pizarro's  secretary :  "  I  vinieron  docientas  cargas  de 
Oro,  i  veinte  i  cinco  de  Plata."  (Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia, 
ubi  supra.)  A  load,  he  says,  was  brought  by  four  Indians.  "  Cargas 
de  Paligueres,  que  las  traen  quatro  Indies."  The  meaning  of  pali- 
gueres — not  a  Spanish  word — is  doubtful.  Ternaux-Compans  sup- 
poses, ingeniously  enough,  that  it  may  have  something  of  the  same 
meaning  with  palanquhi'r  to  which  it  bears  some  resemblance. 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  38 


446  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

tional  force  from  Nicaragua,  so  that  his  whole  strength 
amounted  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  foot  and  fifty  horse, 
well  provided  with  the  munitions  of  war.  His  vessels 
were  steered  by  the  old  pilot  Ruiz ;  but,  after  making 
the  Bay  of  St.  Matthew,  he  crept  slowly  along  the 
coast,  baffled  as  usual  by  winds  and  currents,  and  ex- 
periencing all  the  hardships  incident  to  that  protracted 
navigation.  From  some  cause  or  other,  he  was  not  so 
fortunate  as  to  obtain  tidings  of  Pizarro ;  and  so  dis- 
heartened were  his  followers,  most  of  whom  were  raw 
adventurers,  that  when  arrived  at  Puerto  Viejo  they 
proposed  to  abandon  the  expedition  and  return  at  once 
to  Panama.  Fortunately,  one  of  the  little  squadron 
which  Almagro  had  sent  forward  to  Tumbez  brought 
intelligence  of  Pizarro  and  of  the  colony  he  had 
planted  at  San  Miguel.  Cheered  by  the  tidings,  the 
cavalier  resumed  his  voyage,  and  succeeded  at  length, 
towards  the  close  of  December,  1532,  in  bringing  his 
whole  party  safe  to  the  Spanish  settlement. 

He  there  received  the  account  of  Pizarro's  march 
across  the  mountains,  his  seizure  of  the  Inca,  and,  soon 
afterwards,  of  the  enormous  ransom  offered  for  his  lib- 
eration. Almagro  and  his  companions  listened  with 
undisguised  amazement  to  this  account  of  his  associate, 
and  of  a  change  in  his  fortunes  so  rapid  and  wonder- 
ful that  it  seemed  little  less  than  magic.  At  the  same 
time  he  received  a  caution  from  some  of  the  colonists 
not  to  trust  himself  in  the  power  of  Pizarro,  who  was 
known  to  bear  him  no  good  will. 

Not  long  after  Almagro' s  arrival  at  San  Miguel,  ad- 
vices were  sent  of  it  to  Caxamalca,  and  a  private  note 
from  his  secretary  Perez  informed  Pizarro  that  his  asso- 


ARRIVAL    OF   ALMAGRO.  447 

ciate  had  come  with  no  purpose  of  co-operating  with 
him,  but  with  the  intention  to  establish  an  independent 
government.  Both  of  the  Spanish  captains  seem  to 
have  been  surrounded  by  mean  and  turbulent  spirits, 
who  sought  to  embroil  them  with  each  other,  trusting, 
doubtless,  to  find  their  own  account  in  the  rupture. 
For  once,  however,  their  malicious  machinations  failed. 

Pizarro  was  overjoyed  at  the  arrival  of  so  consider- 
able a  reinforcement,  which  would  enable  him  to  push 
his  fortunes  as  he  had  desired,  and  go  forward  with  the 
conquest  of  the  country.  He  laid  little  stress  on  the 
secretary's  communication,  since,  whatever  might  have 
been  Almagro's  original  purpose,  Pizarro  knew  that  the 
richness  of  the  vein  he  had  now  opened  in  the  land 
would  be  certain  to  secure  his  co-operation  in  working 
it.  He  had  the  magnanimity,  therefore, — for  there  is 
something  magnanimous  in  being  able  to  stifle  the  sug- 
gestions of  a  petty  rivalry  in  obedience  to  sound  policy, 
— to  send  at  once  to  his  ancient  comrade,  and  invite 
him,  with  many  assurances  of  friendship,  to  Caxamalca. 
Almagro,  who  was  of  a  frank  and  careless  nature,  re- 
ceived the  communication  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was 
made,  and,  after  some  necessary  delay,  directed  his 
march  into  the  interior.  But  before  leaving  San  Miguel, 
having  become  acquainted  with  the  treacherous  conduct 
of  his  secretary,  he  recompensed  his  treason  by  hanging 
him  on  the  spot." 

Almagro  reached  Caxamalca  about  the   middle  of 

»  Pedro  Pizarro.  'Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.— Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru, 
ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  pp.  204,  205.— Relacion  sumaria,  MS.— Conq.  i 
Pob.  del  Piru,  MS. — Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. — Herrera, 
Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  3,  cap.  i. 


448  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

February,  1533.  The  soldiers  of  Pizarro  came  out  to 
welcome  their  countrymen,  and  the  two  captains  em- 
braced each  other  with  every  mark  of  cordial  satis 
faction.  All  past  differences  were  buried  in  oblivion, 
and  they  seemed  only  prepared  to  aid  one  another  in 
following  up  the  brilliant  career  now  opened  to  them 
in  the  conquest  of  an  empire. 

There  was  one  person  in  Caxamalca  on  whom  this 
arrival  of  the  Spaniards  produced  a  very  different  im- 
pression from  that  made  on  their  own  countrymen. 
This  was  the  Inca  Atahuallpa.  He  saw  in  the  new- 
comers only  a  new  swarm  of  locusts  to  devour  his 
unhappy  country  ;  and  he  felt  that,  with  his  enemies 
thus  multiplying  around  him,  the  chances  were  dimin- 
ished of  recovering  his  freedom,  or  of  maintaining  it 
if  recovered.  A  little  circumstance,  insignificant  in 
itself,  but  magnified  by  superstition  into  something 
formidable,  occurred  at  this  time  to  cast  an  additional 
gloom  over  his  situation. 

A  remarkable  appearance,  somewhat  of  the  nature 
of  a  meteor,  or  it  may  have  been  a  comet,  was  seen  in 
the  heavens  by  some  soldiers  and  pointed  out  to  Ata- 
huallpa. He  gazed  on  it  with  fixed  attention  for  some 
minutes,  and  then  exclaimed,  with  a  dejected  air,  that 
"  a  similar  sign  had  been  seen  in  the  skies  a  short  time 
before  the  death  of  his  father  Huayna  Capac."  n  From 
this  day  a  sadness  seemed  to  take  possession  of  him, 
as  he  looked  with  doubt  and  undefined  dread  to  the 
future.  Thus  it  is  that  in  seasons  of  danger  the  mind, 
like  the  senses,  becomes  morbidly  acute  in  its  percep- 

*3  Rel.  d'un  Capitano  Spagn.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  377. — 
Cieza  de  Leon,  Cronica,  cap.  65. 


ARRIVAL    OF  ALMAGRO.  449 

tions,  and  the  least  departure  from  the  regular  course 
of  nature,  that  would  have  passed  unheeded  in  ordinary 
times,  to  the  superstitious  eye  seems  pregnant  with 
meaning,  as  in  some  way  or  other  connected  with  the 
destiny  of  the  individual. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

IMMENSE  AMOUNT  OF  TREASURE. — ITS  DIVISION  AMONG 
THE  TROOPS. — RUMORS  OF  A  RISING. — TRIAL  OF  THE 
INCA. — HIS  EXECUTION. — REFLECTIONS. 

1533- 

THE  arrival  of  Almagro  produced  a  considerable 
change  in  Pizarro's  prospects,  since  it  enabled  him  to 
resume  active  operations  and  push  forward  his  con- 
quests in  the  interior.  The  only  obstacle  in  his  way 
was  the  Inca's  ransom,  and  the  Spaniards  had  patiently 
waited,  till  the  return  of  the  emissaries  from  Cuzco 
swelled  the  treasure  to  a  large  amount,  though  -still 
below  the  stipulated  limit  But  now  their  avarice  got 
the  better  of  their  forbearance,  and  they  called  loudly 
for  the  immediate  division  of  the  gold.  To  wait 
longer  would  only  be  to  invite  the  assault  of  their 
enemies,  allured  by  a  bait  so  attractive.  While  the 
treasure  remained  uncounted,  no  man  knew  its  value, 
nor  what  was  to  be  his  own  portion.  It  was  better  to 
distribute  it  at  once,  and  let  every  one  possess  and 
defend  his  own.  Several,  moreover,  were  now  dis- 
posed to  return  home  and  take  their  share  of  the  gold 
with  them,  where  they  could  place  it  in  safety.  But 
these  were  few  ;  while  much  the  larger  part  were  only 
anxious  to  leave  their  present  quarters  and  march  at 
once  to  Cuzco.  More  gold,  they  thought,  awaited 
them  in  that  capital  than  they  could  get  here  by  pro- 
(450) 


IMMENSE    AMOUNT    OF    TREASURE,         451 

longing  their  stay ;  while  every  hour  was  precious,  to 
prevent  the  inhabitants  from  secreting  their  treasures, 
of  which  design  they  had  already  given  indication. 

Pizarro  was  especially  moved  by  the  last  consider- 
ation ;  and  he  felt  that  without  the  capital  he  could  not 
hope  to  become  master  of  the  empire.  Without  further 
delay,  the  division  of  the  treasure  was  agreed  upon. 

Yet,  before  making  this,  it  was  necessary  to  reduce 
the  whole  to  ingots  of  a  uniform  standard,  for  the 
spoil  was  composed  of  an  infinite  variety  of  articles,  in 
which  the  gold  was  of  very  different  degrees  of  purity. 
These  articles  consisted  of  goblets,  ewers,  salvers,  vases 
of  every  shape  and  size,  ornaments  and  utensils  for  the 
temples  and  the  royal  palaces,  tiles  and  plates  for  the 
decoration  of  the  public  edifices,  curious  imitations  of 
different  plants  and  animals.  Among  the  plants,  the 
most  beautiful  was  the  Indian  corn,  in  which  the  golden 
ear  was  sheathed  in  its  broad  leaves  of  silver,  from  which 
hung  a  rich  tassel  of  threads  of  the  same  precious  metal. 
A  fountain  was  also  much  admired,  which  sent  up  a 
sparkling  jet  of  gold,  while  birds  and  animals  of  the 
same  material  played  in  the  waters  at  its  base.  The 
delicacy  of  the  workmanship  of  some  of  these,  and  the 
beauty  and  ingenuity  of  the  design,  attracted  the  admira- 
tion of  better  judges  than  the  rude  Conquerors  of  Peru.1 

Before  breaking  up  these  specimens  of  Indian  art, 

1  Relatione  de  Pedro  Sancho,  ap.  Ramusio,  Viaggi,  torn.  iii.  fol. 
399. — Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  233. — Zarate, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  2,  cap.  7.— Oviedo  saw  at  St.  Domingo  the  articles 
which  Hernando  Pizarro  was  bearing  to  Castile  ;  and  he  expatiates 
on  several  beautifully  wrought  vases,  richly  chased,  of  very  fine  gold, 
and  measuring  twelve  inches  in  height  and  thirty  round.  Hist,  de  las 
Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  16. 


452  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

it  was  determined  to  send  a  quantity,  which  should  be 
deducted  from  the  royal  fifth,  to  the  emperor.  It 
would  serve  as  a  sample  of  the  ingenuity  of  the  natives, 
and  would  show  him  the  value  of  his  conquests.  A 
number  of  the  most  beautiful  articles  was  selected,  of 
the  value  of  a  hundred  thousand  ducats,  and  Her- 
nando  Pizarro  was  appointed  to  be  the  bearer  of  them 
to  Spain.  He  was  to  obtain  an  audience  of  Charles, 
and  at  the  same  time  that  he  laid  the  treasures  before 
him  he  was  to  give  an  account  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  Conquerors,  and  to  seek  a  further  augmentation 
of  their  powers  and  dignities. 

No  man  in  the  army  was  better  qualified  for  this 
mission,  by  his  address  and  knowledge  of  affairs,  than 
Hernando  Pizarro  ;  no  one  would  be  so  likely  to  urge 
his  suit  with  effect  at  the  haughty  Castilian  court.  But 
other  reasons  influenced  the  selection  of  him  at  the 
present  juncture. 

His  former  jealousy  of  Almagro  still  rankled  in  his 
bosom,  and  he  had  beheld  that  chief's  arrival  at  the 
camp  with  feelings  of  disgust,  which  he  did  not  care 
to  conceal.  He  looked  on  him  as  coming  to  share  the 
spoils  of  victory  and  defraud  his  brother  of  his  legiti- 
mate honors.  Instead  of  exchanging  the  cordial  greet- 
ing proffered  by  Almagro  at  their  first  interview,  the 
arrogant  cavalier  held  back  in  sullen  silence.  His 
brother  Francis  was  greatly  displeased  at  conduct 
which  threatened  to  renew  their  ancient  feud,  and  he 
induced  Hernando  to-  accompany  him  to  Almagro's 
quarters  and  make  some  acknowledgment  for  his  un- 
courteous  behavior.2  But,  notwithstanding  this  show 
3  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  2,  cap.  3. 


/.i/.i//-:.\-.s7-:  .t.vor.vr  OF  TREASURE.      4S3 

of  reconciliation,  the  general  thought  the  piesent  a 
favorable  opportunity  to  remove  his  brother  from  the 
scene  of  operations,  where  his  factious  spirit  more  than 
counterbalanced  his  eminent  services.3 

The  business  of  melting  down  the  plate  was  intrusted 
to  the  Indian  goldsmiths,  who  were  thus  required  to 
undo  the  work  of  their  own  hands.  They  toiled  day 
and  night,  but  such  was  the  quantity  to  be  recast  that 
it  consumed  a  full  month.  When  the  whole  was  re- 
duced to  bars  of  a  uniform  standard,  they  were  nicely 
weighed,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  royal  in- 
spectors. The  total  amount  of  the  gold  was  found  to 
be  one  million  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  thirty-nine  pesos  de  oro,  which, 
allowing  for  the  greater  value  of  money  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  would  be  equivalent,  probably,  at  the 
present  time,  to  near  three  millions  and  a  half  of  pounds 
sterling,  or  somewhat  less  than  fifteen  millions  and  a 
half  of  dollars*  The  quantity  of  silver  was  estimated 

3  According  to  Oviedo,  it  was  agreed  that  Hernando  should  have  a 
share  much  larger  than  he  was  entitled  to  of  the  Inca's  ransom,  in 
the  hope  that  he  would  feel  so  rich  as  never  to  desire  to  return  again 
to  Peru  :  "  Trabajaron  de  le  embiar  rico  porquitarle  de  entre  ellos,  y 
porque  yendo  muy  rico  como  fue  no  tubiese  voluntad  de  tornar  & 
aquellas  partes."     Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  16. 

4  Acta  de  Reparticion  del  Rescate  de  Atahuallpa,  MS. — Xerez, 
Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  232. — In  reducing  the  sums 
mentioned  in  this  work,  I  have  availed  myself— as  I  before  did,  in  the 
History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico— of  the  labors  of  Senor   Cle- 
mencin,  formerly  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  History  at 
Madrid.     This  eminent  scholar,  in  the  sixth  volume  of  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Academy,  prepared  wholly  by  himself,  has  introduced  an  elab- 
orate essay  on  the  value  of  the  currency  in  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella.     Although  this  period— the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century- 
was  somewhat  earlier  than  that  of  the  Conquest  of  Peru,  yet  his  cal- 


454  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

at  fifty-one  thousand  six  hundred  and  ten  marks.  His- 
tory affords  no  parallel  of  such  a  booty — and  that,  too, 

dilations  are  sufficiently  near  the  truth  for  our  purpose,  since  the 
Spanish  currency  had  not  as  yet  been  much  affected  by  that  disturb- 
ing cause,  the  influx  of  the  precious  metals  from  the  New  World. 
In  inquiries  into  the  currency  of  a  remote  age,  we  may  consider,  in 
the  first  place,  the  specific  value  of  the  coin,— that  is,  the  value  which 
it  derives  from  the  weight,  purity,  etc.,  of  the  metal,  circumstances 
easily  determined.  In  the  second  place,  we  may  inquire  into  the 
commercial  or  comparative  worth  of  the  money, — that  is,  the  value 
founded  on  a  comparison  of  the  difference  between  the  amount  of 
commodities  which  the  same  sum  would  purchase  formerly  and  at  the 
present  time.  The  latter  inquiry  is  attended  with  great  embarrassment, 
from  the  difficulty  of  finding  any  one  article  which  may  be  taken  as 
the  true  standard  of  value.  Wheat,  from  its  general  cultivation  and 
use,  has  usually  been  selected  by  political  economists  as  this  standard  ; 
and  Clemencin  has  adopted  it  in  his  calculations.  Assuming  wheat  as 
the  standard,  he  has  endeavored  to  ascertain  the  value  of  the  principal 
ccins  in  circulation  at  the  time  of  the  "  Catholic  Kings."  He  makes 
no  mention  in  his  treatise  of  the  peso  de  oro,  by  which  denomination 
the  sums  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  were  more  fre- 
quently expressed  than  by  any  other.  But  he  ascertains  both  the 
specific  and  the  commercial  value  of  the  castellano,  which  several  of 
the  old  writers,  as  Oviedo,  Herrera,  and  Xerez,  concur  in  stating  as 
precisely  equivalent  to  the  peso  de  oro.  From  the  results  of  his  cal- 
culations, it  appears  that  the  specific  value  of  the  castellano,  as  stated 
by  him  in  reals,  is  equal  to  three  dollars  and  seven  cents  of  our  own 
currency,  while  the  commercial  value  is  nearly  four  times  as  great,  or 
eleven  dollars  sixty-seven  cents,  equal  to  two  pounds  twelve  shillings 
and  sixpence  sterling.  By  adopting  this  as  the  approximate  value  of 
the  peso  de  oro  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  reader 
may  easily  compute  for  himself  the  value,  at  that  period,  of  the  sums 
mentioned  in  these  pages ;  most  of  which  are  expressed  in  that  de- 
nomination. I  have  been  the  more  particular  in  this  statement  since 
in  my  former  work  I  confined  myself  to  the  commercial  value  of  the 
money,  which,  being  much  greater  than  the  specific  value,  founded 
on  the  quality  and  weight  of  the  metal,  was  thought  by  an  ingenious 
correspondent  to  give  the  reader  an  exaggerated  estimate  of  the  sums 
mentioned  in  the  history.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  only  this  com- 


ITS   DIVISION   AMONG    THE    TROOPS.       455 

in  the  most  convertible  form,  in  ready  money,  as  it 
were— having  fallen  to  the  lot  of  a  little  band  of  mili- 
tary adventurers,  like  the  Conquerors  of  Peru.  The 
great  object  of  the  Spanish  expeditions  in  the  New 
World  was  gold.  It  is  remarkable  that  their  success 
should  have  been  so  complete.  Had  they  taken  the 
track  of  the  English,  the  French,  or  the  Dutch,  on  the 
shores  of  the  northern  continent,  how  different  would 
have  been  the  result !  It  is  equally  worthy  of  remark 
that  the  wealth  thus  suddenly  acquired,  by  diverting 
them  from  the  slow  but  surer  and  more  permanent 
sources  of  national  prosperity,  has  in  the  end  glided 
from  their  grasp  and  left  them  among  the  poorest  of 
the  nations  of  Christendom. 

A  new  difficulty  now  arose  in  respect  to  the  division 
of  the  treasure.  Almagro's  followers  claimed  to  be 
admitted  to  a  share  of  it;  which,  as  they  equalled 
and,  indeed,  somewhat  exceeded  in  number  Pizarro's 
company,  would  reduce  the  gains  of  these  last  very 
materially.  "We  were  not  here,  it  is  true,"  said 
Almagro's  soldiers  to  their  comrades,  "at  the  seizure 
of  the  Inca,  but  we  have  taken  our  turn  in  mounting 
guard  over  him  since  his  capture,  have  helped  you  to 
defend  your  treasures,  and  now  give  you  the  means 
of  going  forward  and  securing  your  conquests.  It  is  a 
common  cause,"  they  urged,  "  in  which  all  are  equally 

parative  or  commercial  value  with  which  the  reader  has  any  concern, 
indicating  what  amount  of  commodities  any  given  sum  represents, 
that  he  may  thus  know  the  real  worth  of  that  sum, — thus  adopting  the 
principle,  though  conversely  stated,  of  the  old  Hudibrastic  maxim, — 

"  What  is  worth  in  any  thing, 
But  so  much  money  as  't  wUl  bring?" 


456  CONQUEST    OF  PKKl'. 

embarked,  and  the  gains  should  be  shared  equally  be- 
tween us." 

But  this  way  of  viewing  the  matter  was  not  at  all 
palatable  to  Pizarro's  company,  who  alleged  that  Ata- 
huallpa's  contract  had  been  made  exclusively  with 
them ;  that  they  had  seized  the  Inca,  had  secured  the 
ransom,  had  incurred,  in  short,  all  the  risk  of  the 
enterprise,  and  were  not  now  disposed  to  share  the 
fruits  of  it  with  every  one  who  came  after  them. 
There  was  much  force,  it  could  not  be  denied,  in  this 
reasoning,  and  it  was  finally  settled  between  the  leaders 
that  Almagro's  followers  should  resign  their  pretensions 
for  a  stipulated  sum  of  no  great  amount,  and  look  to 
the  career  now  opened  to  them  for  carving  out  their 
fortunes  for  themselves. 

This  delicate  affair  being  thus  harmoniously  adjusted, 
Pizarro  prepared,  with  all  solemnity,  for  a  division  of 
the  imperial  spoil.  The  troops  were  called  together  in 
the  great  square,  and  the  Spanish  commander,  "  with 
the  fear  of  God  before  his  eyes,"  says  the  record, 
"  invoked  the  assistance  of  Heaven  to  do  the  work 
before  him  conscientiously  and  justly."5  The  appeal 
may  seem  somewhat  out  of  place  at  the  distribution  of 
spoil  so  unrighteously  acquired  ;  yet  in  truth,  consider- 
ing the  magnitude  of  the  treasure,  and  the  power 
assumed  by  Pizarro  to  distribute  it  according  to  the 
respective  deserts  of  the  individuals,  there  were  few 
acts  of  his  life  involving  a  heavier  responsibility.  On 

s  "  Segun  Dios  Nuestro  Sefior  se  diere  d  entender  teniendo  su 
conciencia  y  para  lo  mejor  hazer  pedia  al  ayuda  de  Dios  Nuestro 
Sefior,  i  imboco  el  auxilio  divino."  Acta  de  Repartition  del  Rescate, 
MS. 


ITS   DIVISION  A.MO.VG    THE    TROOPS.       457 

his  present  decision  might  be  said  to  hang  the  future 
fortunes  of  each  one  of  his  followers, — poverty  or 
independence  during  the  remainder  of  his  days. 

The  royal  fifth  was  first  deducted,  including  the 
remittance  already  sent  to  Spain.  The  share  appro- 
priated by  Pizarro  amounted  to  fifty-seven  thousand 
two  hundred  and  twenty-two  pesos  of  gold,  and  two 
thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  marks  of  silver.  He 
had  besides  this  the  great  chair  or  throne  of  the  Inca, 
of  solid  gold,  and  valued  at  twenty-five  thousand  pesos 
de  oro.  To  his  brother  Hernando  were  paid  thirty-one 
thousand  and  eighty  pesos  of  gold,  and  two  thousand 
three  hundred  and  fifty  marks  of  silver.  De  Soto 
received  seventeen  thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty 
pesos  of  gold,  and  seven  hundred  and  twenty-four 
marks  of  silver.  Most  of  the  remaining  cavalry,  sixty 
in  number,  received  each  eight  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty  pesos  of  gold,  and  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  marks  of  silver,  though  some  had  more,  and  a  few 
considerably  less.  The  infantry  mustered  in  all  one 
hundred  and  five  men.  Almost  one-fifth  of  them  were 
allowed,  each,  four  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty 
pesos  of  gold,  and  one  hundred  and  eighty  marks  of 
silver,  half  of  the  compensation  of  the  troopers.  The 
remainder  received  one-fourth  part  less;  though  here 
again  there  were  exceptions,  and  some  were  obliged  to 
content  themselves  with  a  much  smaller  share  of  the 
spoil.6 

6  The  particulars  of  the  distribution  are  given  in  the  Acta  de  Repar- 
tition del  Rescatt,  an  instrument  drawn  up  and  signed  by  the  royal 
notary.     The  document,  which  is  therefore  of  unquestionable  author- 
ity, is  among  the  MSS.  selected  for  me  from  the  collection  of  Munoz. 
Peru. — VOL.  I. — U  39 


458  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

The  new  church  of  San  Francisco,  the  first  Christian 
temple  in  Peru,  was  endowed  with  two  thousand  two 
hundred  and  twenty  pesos  of  gold.  The  amount 
assigned  to  Almagro's  company  was  not  excessive,  if 
it  was  not  more  than  twenty  thousand  pesos ; 7  and 
that  reserved  for  the  colonists  of  San  Miguel,  which 
amounted  only  to  fifteen  thousand  pesos,  was  unac- 
countably small.8  There  were  among  them  certain 
soldiers  who,  at  an  early  period  of  the  expedition,  as 
the  reader  may  remember,  abandoned  the  march  and 
returned  to  San  Miguel.  These,  certainly,  had  little 
claim  to  be  remembered  in  the  division  of  booty.  But 
the  greater  part  of  the  colony  consisted  of  invalids, 
men  whose  health  had  been  broken  by  their  previous 
hardships,  but  who  still,  with  a  stout  and  willing  heart, 
did  good  service  in  their  military  post  on  the  sea-coast. 
On  what  grounds  they  had  forfeited  their  claims  to  a 
more  ample  remuneration  it  is  not  easy  to  explain. 

Nothing  is  said,  in  the  partition,  of  Almagro  him- 
self, who,  by  the  terms  of  the  original  contract,  might 
claim  an  equal  share  of  the  spoil  with  his  associate. 
As  little  notice  is  taken  of  Luque,  the  remaining 
partner.  Luque  himself  was,  indeed,  no  longer  to  be 

7  "  Se  diese  a  la  gente  que  vino  con  el  Capitan  Diego  de  Almagro 
para  ayuda  a  pagar  sus  deudas  y  fletes  y  suplir  algunas  necesrtlades 
que  traian,  veinte  mil  pesos."  ( Acta  de  Reparticion  del  Rescate,  MS.) 
Herrera  says  that  100,000 pesos  were  paid  to  Almagro's  men.     (Hist, 
general,  dec.  5,  lib.  2,  cap.  3.)     But  it  is  not  so  set  down  in  the  in- 
strument. 

8  "  En  treinta  personas  que  quedaron  en  la  ciudad  de  san  Miguel 
de  Piura  dolientes  y  otros  que  no  vinieron  ni  se  hallaron  en  la  prision 
de  Atagualpa  y  toma  del  oro  porque  algunos  son  pobres  y  otros  tie- 
nen  necesidad  senalaba  15,000  p"  de  oro  para  los  repartir  S.  Senoria 
•ntre  las  dichas  personas."     Ibid.,  MS. 


ITS   DIVISION  AMOXG    THE    TROOPS. 


459 


benefited  by  worldly  treasure.  He  had  died  a  short 
time  before  Almagro's  departure  from  Panama;9  too 
soon  to  learn  the  full  success  of  the  enterprise,  which, 
but  for  his  exertions,  must  have  failed ;  too  soon  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  achievements  and  the 
crimes  of  Pizarro.  But  the  Licentiate  Espinosa,  whom 
he  represented,  and  who,  it  appears,  had  advanced 
the  funds  for  the  expedition,  was  still  living  at  St. 
Domingo,  and  Luque's  pretensions  were  explicitly 
transferred  to  him.  Yet  it  is  unsafe  to  pronounce, 
at  this  distance  of  time,  on  the  authority  of  mere 
negative  testimony ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  to  form 
a  strong  presumption  in  favor  of  Pi/.arro's  general 
equity  in  the  distribution,  that  no  complaint  of  it 
has  reached  us  from  any  of  the  parties  present,  nor 
from  contemporary  chroniclers.10 

The  division  of  the  ransom  being  completed  by  the 
Spaniards,  there  seemed  to  be  no  further  obstacle  to 
their  resuming  active  operations  and  commencing  the 
march  to  Cuzco.  But  what  was  to  be  done  with  Ata- 
huallpa?  In  the  determination  of  this  question,  what- 
ever was  expedient  was  just."  To  liberate  him  would 

9  Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1533. 

«>  The  "  Spanish  Captain,"  several  times  cited,  who  tells  us  he  was 
one  of  the  men  appointed  to  guard  the  treasure,  does  indeed  complain 
that  a  large  quantity  of  gold  vases  and  other  articles  remained  undi- 
vided, a  palpable  injustice,  he  thinks,  to  the  honest  Conquerors,  who 
had  earned  all  by  their  hardships.  (Rel.  d'un  Capitano  Spagn.,  ap. 
ksimusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  378,  379.)  The  writer,  throughout  his  Rela- 
tion, shows  a  full  measure  of  the  coarse  and  covetous  spirit  which 
marked  the  adventures  of  Peru. 

11  "  Y  esto  tenia  por  justo,  pues  era  provechoso."  It  is  the  senti- 
ment imputed  to  Pizarro  by  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  3, 
cap.  4. 


460  COXQUEST    OF   PERT. 

be  to  set  at  large  the  very  man  who  might  prove  their 
most  dangerous  enemy, — one  whose  birth  and  royal 
station  would  rally  round  him  the  whole  nation,  place 
all  the  machinery  of  government  at  his  control,  and  all 
its  resources, — one,  in  short,  whose  bare  word  might 
concentrate  all  the  energies  of  his  people  against  the 
Spaniards,  and  thus  delay  for  a  long  period,  if  not 
wholly  defeat,  the  conquest  of  the  country.  Yet  to 
hold  him  in  captivity  was  attended  with  scarcely  less 
difficulty ;  since  to  guard  so  important  a  prize  would 
require  such  a  division  of  their  force  as  must  greatly 
cripple  its  strength,  and  how  could  they  expect,  by 
any  vigilance,  to  secure  their  prisoner  against  rescue  in 
the  perilous  passes  of  the  mountains? 

The  Inca  himself  now  loudly  demanded  his  freedom. 
The  proposed  amount  of  the  ransom  had,  indeed,  not 
been  fully  paid.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  it  ever 
would  have  been,  considering  the  embarrassments 
thrown  in  the  way  by  the  guardians  of  the  temples, 
who  seemed  disposed  to  secrete  the  treasures,  rather 
than  despoil  these  sacred  depositories  to  satisfy  the 
cupidity  of  the  strangers.  It  was  unlucky,  too,  for  the 
Indian  monarch  that  much  of  the  gold,  and  that  of  the 
best  quality,  consisted  of  flat  plates  or  tiles,  which, 
however  valuable,  lay  in  a  compact  form  that  did  little 
towards  swelling  the  heap.  But  an  immense  amount 
had  been  already  realized,  and  it  would  have  been  a 
still  greater  one,  the  Inca  might  allege,  but  for  the 
impatience  of  the  Spaniards.  At  all  events,  it  was  a 
magnificent  ransom,  such  as  was  never  paid  by  prince 
or  potentate  before. 

These  considerations  Atahuallpa  urged  on  several  of 


Ri'MORS    OF  A    RISIXG.  46 -, 

the  cavaliers,  and  especially  on  Hernando  de  Soto,  who 
was  on  terms  of  more  familiarity  with  him  than  Pizarro. 
De  Soto  reported  Atahuallpa's  demands  to  his  leader ; 
but  the  latter  evaded  a  direct  reply.  He  did  not 
disclose  the  dark  purposes  over  which  his  mind  was 
brooding.13  Not  long  afterwards  he  caused  the  notary 
to  prepare  an  instrument  in  which  he  fully  acquitted 
the  Inca  of  further  obligation  in  respect  to  the  ransom. 
This  he  commanded  to  be  publicly  proclaimed  in  the 
camp,  while  at  the  same  time  he  openly  declared  that 
the  safety  of  the  Spaniards  required  that  the  'Inca 
should  be  detained  in  confinement  until  they  were 
strengthened  by  additional  reinforcements.13 

Meanwhile  the  old  rumors  of  a  meditated  attack  by 
the  natives  began  to  be  current  among  the  soldiers. 
They  were  repeated  from  one  to  another,  gaining 
something  by  every  repetition.  An  immense  army, 
it  was  reported,  was  mustering  at  Quito,  the  land  of 
Atahuallpa's  birth,  and  thirty  thousand  Caribs  were  on 
their  way  to  support  it.'4  The  Caribs  were  distributed 

Ia  "  I  como  no  ahondaban  los  designios  que  tenia  le  replicaban ; 
pero  el  respondia,  que  iba  mirando  en  ello."  Herrera,  Hist,  general, 
dec.  5,  lib.  3,  cap.  4. 

'3  "  Fatta  quella  fusione,  il  Governatore  fece  vn  atto  innanzi  al  no- 
taro  nel  quale  liberaua  il  Cacique  Atabalipa  et  1'absolueua  della  pro- 
messa  et  parola  che  haueua  data  a  gli  Spagnuoli  che  lo  presero  della 
casa  d'oro  c'haueua  lor  cocessa,  il  quale  fece  publicar  publicamete  a 
suon  di  trombe  nella  piazza  di  quella  citta  di  Caxamalca."  (Pedro 
Sancho,  Rel..  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  399.)  The  authority  is  un- 
impeachable, —for  any  fact,  at  least,  that  makes  against  the  Conquer- 
ors,— since  the  Relatione  was  by  one  of  Pizarro's  own  secretaries,  and 
was  authorized  under  the  hands  of  the  general  and  his  great  officers. 

'4  "  De  la  gente  Natural  de  Quito  vienen  docientos  mil  Hombres 

de  Guerra,  i  treinta  mil  Caribes,  que  comen  Came  Humana."    Xerez, 

39* 


462  COXQCEST    OF   TYsAT. 

by  the  early  Spaniards  rather  indiscriminately  over  the 
different  parts  of  America,  being  invested  with  pecu- 
liar horrors  as  a  race  of  cannibals. 

It  was  not  easy  to  trace  the  origin  of  these  rumors. 
There  was  in  the  camp  a  considerable  number  of  In- 
dians, who  belonged  to  the  party  of  Huascar,  and  who 
were,  of  course,  hostile  to  Atahuallpa.  But  his  worst 
enemy  was  Felipillo,  the  interpreter  from  Tumbez, 
already  mentioned  in  these  pages.  This  youth  had 
conceived  a  passion  for,  or,  as  some  say,  had  been 
detected  in  an  intrigue  with,  one  of  the  royal  concu- 
bines.IS  The  circumstance  had  reached  the  ears  of 
Atahuallpa,  who  felt  himself  deeply  outraged  by  it. 
"That  such  an  insult  should  have  been  offered  by  so 
base  a  person  was  an  indignity,"  he  said,  "more  diffi- 
cult to  bear  than  his  imprisonment;"'6  and  he  told 
Pizarro  "  that,  by  the  Peruvian  law,  it  could  be  expi- 
ated, not  by  the  criminal's  own  death  alone,  but  by 
that  of  his  whole  family  and  kindred."  '7  But  Feli- 
pillo was  too  important  to  the  Spaniards  to  be  dealt 
with  so  summarily  j  nor  did  they  probably  attach  such 
Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  233. — See  also  Pedro  Sancho, 
Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  ubi  supra. 

'5  "  Pues  estando  asi  atravesose  un  demonio  de  una  lenguaque  se 
dezia  ffelipillo  uno  de  los  muchachos  que  el  marquez  avia  llevado  a 
Espana  que  al  presente  hera  lengua  y  andava  enamorado  de  una 
muger  de  Atabalipa."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — The 
amour  and  the  malice  of  Felipillo,  which,  Quintuna  seems  to  think, 
rest  chiefly  on  Garcilasso's  authority  (see  Espanoles  celebres,  torn.  ii. 
p.  210,  nota),  are  stated  very  explicitly  by  Zarate,  Naharro,  Gomara, 
Balboa,  all  contemporaneous,  though  not,  like  Pedro  Pizarro,  person- 
ally present  in  the  army. 

16  "  Diciendo  que  sentia  mas  aquel  desacato,  que  su  prision."  Za- 
rate, Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  2,  cap.  7. 

'7  Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 


RUMORS   OF  A    RISING.  463 

consequence  to  an  offence  which,  if  report  be  true, 
they  had  countenanced  by  their  own  example.18  Fe- 
lipillo,  however,  soon  learned  the  state  of  the  Inca's 
feelings  towards  himself,  and  from  that  moment  he 
regarded  him  with  deadly  hatred.  Unfortunately,  his 
malignant  temper  found  ready  means  for  its  indulgence. 

The  rumors  of  a  rising  among  the  natives  pointed  to 
Atahuallpa  as  the  author  of  it.  Challcuchima  was  ex- 
amined on  the  subject,  but  avowed  his  entire  ignorance 
of  any  such  design,  which  he  pronounced  a  malicious 
slander.  Pizarro  next  laid  the  matter  before  the  Inca 
himself,  repeating  to  him  the  stories  in  circulation, 
with  the  air  of  one  who  believed  them.  "What  treason 
is  this,"  said  the  general,  "that  you  have  meditated 
against  me, — me,  who  have  ever  treated  you  with 
honor,  confiding  in  your  words,  as  in  those  of  a 
brother?"  "You  jest,"  replied  the  Inca,  who  per- 
haps did  not  feel  the  weight  of  this  confidence  ;  "  you 
are  always  jesting  with  me.  How  could  I  or  my  people 
think  of  conspiring  against  men  so  valiant  as  the  Span- 
iards? Do  not  jest  with  me  thus,  I  beseech  you."'9 
"  This,"  continues  Pizarro's  secretary,  "he  said  in  the 
most  composed  and  natural  manner,  smiling  all  the  while 
to  dissemble  his  falsehood,  so  that  we  were  all  amazed 
to  find  such  cunning  in  a  barbarian."  : 

18  "  £  le  habian  tornado  sus  mugeres  e  repartidolas  en  su  presencia 
<<  usaban  de  ellas  de  sus  adulteries."  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  Parte  3.  lib.  8,  cap.  22. 

'9  "  Burlaste  conmigo?  siempre  me  hablas  cosas  de  burlas?  Que 
parte  somos  Yo,  i  toda  mi  Gente,  para  enojar  k  tan  valientes  Hombres 
como  vosotros  ?  No  me  digas  esas  burlas."  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru, 
ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  234. 

*>  "  De  que  los  Espanoles  que  se  las  han  oido,  estan  espantados  de 
ver  en  vn  Hombre  Barbaro  tanta  prudencia."  Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 


464  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

But  it  was  not  with  cunning,  but  with  the  conscious- 
ness of  innocence,  as  the  event  afterwards  proved,  that 
Atahuallpa  thus  spoke  to  Pizarro.  He  readily  dis- 
cerned, however,  the  causes,  perhaps  the  consequences, 
of  the  accusation.  He  saw  a  dark  gulf  opening  be- 
neath his  feet ;  and  he  was  surrounded  by  strangers, 
on  none  of  whom  he  could  lean  for  counsel  or  protec- 
tion. The  life  of  the  captive  monarch  is  usually  short ; 
and  Atahuallpa  might  have  learned  the  truth  of  this, 
when  he  thought  of  Huascar.  Bitterly  did  he  now 
lament  the  absence  of  Hernando  Pizarro,  for,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  the  haughty  spirit  of  this  cavalier  had 
been  touched  by  the  condition  of  the  royal  prisoner, 
and  he  had  treated  him  with  a  deference  which  won 
for  him  the  peculiar  regard  and  confidence  of  the  In- 
dian. Yet  the  latter  lost  no  time  in  endeavoring  to 
efface  the  general's  suspicions  and  to  establish  his  own 
innocence.  "Am  I  not,"  said  he  to  Pizarro,  "a  poor 
captive  in  your  hands?  How  could  I  harbor  the  de- 
signs you  impute  to  me,  when  I  should  be  the  first 
victim  of  the  outbreak?  And  you  little  know  my 
people,  if  you  think  that  such  a  movement  would  be 
made  without  my  orders ;  when  the  very  birds  in  my 
dominions,"  said  he,  with  somewhat  of  an  hyperbole, 
"would  scarcely  venture  to  fly  contrary  to  my  will."  * 

But  these  protestations  of  innocence  had  little  effect 
on  the  troops ;  among  whom  the  story  of  a  general 
rising  of  the  natives  continued  to  gain  credit  every 
hour.  A  large  force,  it  was  said,  was  already  gathered 
at  Huamachuco,  not  a  hundred  miles  from  the  camp, 

21  "  Pues  si  Yo  no  lo  quiero,  ni  las  Aves  bolaran  en  mi  Tierra.' 
Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  2,  cap.  7. 


KVMOJiS    OF  A    KISfXG.  465 

and  their  assault  might  be  hourly  expected.  The  treas- 
ure which  the  Spaniards  had  acquired  afforded  a  tempt- 
ing prize,  and  their  own  alarm  was  increased  by  the 
apprehension  of  losing  it.  The  patrols  were  doubled. 
The  horses  were  kept  saddled  and  bridled.  The  sol- 
diers slept  on  their  arms;  Pizarro  went  the  rounds 
regularly  to  see  that  every  sentinel  was  on  his  post. 
The  little  army,  in  short,  was  in  a  state  of  preparation 
for  instant  attack. 

Men  suffering  from  fear  are  not  likely  to  be  too 
scrupulous  as  to  the  means  of  removing  the  cause  of 
it.  Murmurs,  mingled  with  gloomy  menaces,  were 
now  heard  against  the  Inca,  the  author  of  these  machi- 
nations. Many  began  to  demand  his  life,  as  necessary 
to  the  safety  of  the  army.  Among  these  the  most 
vehement  were  Almagro  and  his  followers.  They  had 
not  witnessed  the  seizure  of  Atahuallpa.  They  had  no 
sympathy  with  him  in  his  fallen  state.  They  regarded 
him  only  as  an  encumbrance,  and  their  desire  now  was 
to  push  their  fortunes  in  the  country,  since  they  had 
got  so  little  of  the  gold  of  Caxamalca.  They  were 
supported  by  Riquelme,  the  treasurer,  and  by  the  rest 
of  the  royal  officers.  These  men  had  been  left  at  San 
Miguel  by  Pizarro,  who  did  not  care  to  have  such  offi- 
cial spies  on  his  movements.  But  they  had  come  to 
the  camp  with  Almagro,  and  they  loudly  demanded 
the  Inca's  death,  as  indispensable  to  the  tranquillity 
of  the  country  and  the  interests  of  the  crown.22 

To  these  dark  suggestions  Pizarro  turned— or  seemed 

•**  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Relacion  del  primer 
Descub.,  MS.— Ped.  Sancho,  Rel..  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  400.— 
These  cavaliers  were  all  present  in  the  camp. 

U* 


466  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

to  turn — an  unwilling  ear,  showing  visible  reluctance 
to  proceed  to  extreme  measures  with  his  prisoner." 
There  were  some  few,  and  among  others  Hernando  de 
Soto,  who  supported  him  in  these  views,  and  who  re- 
garded such  measures  as  not  at  all  justified  by  the  evi- 
dence of  Atahuallpa's  guilt.  In  this  state  of  things, 
the  Spanish  commander  determined  to  send  a  small  de- 
tachment to  Huamachuco,  to  reconnoitre  the  country 
and  ascertain  what  ground  there  was  for  the  rumors  of 
an  insurrection.  De  Soto  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  expedition,  which,  as  the  distance  was  not  great, 
would  occupy  but  a  few  days. 

After  that  cavalier's  departure,  the  agitation  among 
the  soldiers,  instead  of  diminishing,  increased  to  such 
a  degree  that  Pizarro,  unable  to  resist  their  importuni- 
ties, consented  to  bring  Atahuallpa  to  instant  trial.  It 
was  but  decent,  and  certainly  safer,  to  have  the  forms 
of  a  trial.  A  court  was  organized,  over  which  the 
two  captains,  Pizarro  and  Almagro,  were  to  preside  as 
judges.  An  attorney-general  was  named  to  prosecute 
for  the  crown,  and  counsel  was  assigned  to  the  prisoner. 

The  charges  preferred  against  the  Inca,  drawn  up  in 
the  form  of  interrogatories,  were  twelve  in  number. 
The  most  important  were,  that  he  had  usurped  the 
crown  and  assassinated  his  brother  Huascar;  that  he 
had  squandered  the  public  revenues  since  the  conquest 
of  the  country  by  the  Spaniards,  and  lavished  them  on 
his  kindred  and  his  minions;  that  he  was  guilty  of 

*3  "  Aunque  contra  voluntad  del  dicho  Gobernador,  que  nunca 
estubo  bien  en  ello." — Relacion  del  primer  Descub..  MS. — So  also 
Pedro  Pizarro.  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.— Ped.  Sancho.  Rel..  ap.  Ra- 
musio,  ubi  supra. 


TRIAL    OF    THE    INCA.  ^ 

idolatry,  and  of  adulterous  practices,  indulging  openly 
in  a  plurality  of  wives ;  finally,  that  he  had  attempted 
to  excite  an  insurrection  against  the  Spaniards.24 

These  charges,  most  of  which  had  reference  to 
national  usages,  or  to  the  personal  relations  of  the 
Inca,  over  which  the  Spanish  conquerors  had  clearly 
no  jurisdiction,  are  so  absurd  that  they  might  well  pro- 
voke a  smile,  did  they  not  excite  a  deeper  feeling. 
The  last  of  the  charges  was  the  only  one  of  moment 
in  such  a  trial ;  and  the  weakness  of  this  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  care  taken  to  bolster  it  up  with  the 
others.  The  mere  specification  of  the  articles  must 
have  been  sufficient  to  show  that  the  doom  of  the  Inca 
was  already  sealed. 

A  number  of  Indian  witnesses  were  examined,  and 
their  testimony,  filtrated  through  the  interpretation  of 
Felipillo,  received,  it  is  said,  when  necessary,  a  very 
different  coloring  from  that  of  the  original.  The  ex- 
amination was  soon  ended,  and  "a  warm  discussion," 

**  The  specification  of  the  charges  against  the  Inca  is  given  by 
Garcilasso  de  la  Vega.  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  2,  lib.  i,  cap.  37.)  One 
could  have  wished  to  find  them  specified  by  some  of  the  actors  in  the 
tragedy.  But  Garcilasso  had  access  to  the  best  sources  of  informa- 
tion, and  where  there  was  no  motive  for  falsehood,  as  in  the  present 
instance,  his  word  may  probably  be  taken. — The  fact  of  a  process 
being  formally  instituted  against  the  Indian  monarch  is  explicitly 
recognized  by  several  contemporary  writers,  by  Gomara,  Oviedo,  and 
Pedro  Sancho.  Oviedo  characterizes  the  indictment  as  "a  badly 
contrived  and  worse  written  document,  devised  by  a  factious  and  un- 
principled priest,  a  clumsy  notary  without  conscience,  and  others  of 
the  like  stamp,  who  were  all  concerned  in  this  villany."  Hist,  de  las 
Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8.  cap.  22.)  Most  authorities  agree  in  the  two 
principal  charges, — the  assassination  of  Huascar,  and  the  conspiracy 
against  the  Spaniards. 


468  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

as  we  are  assured  by  one  of  Pizarro's  own  secretaries, 
"took  place  in  respect  to  the  probable  good  or  evil 
that  would  result  from  the  death  of  Atahuallpa."  =5  It 
was  a  question  of  expediency.  He  was  found  guilty, 
— whether  of  all  the  crimes  alleged  we  are  not  informed, 
— and  he  was  sentenced  to  be  burnt  alive  in  the  great 
square  of  Caxamalca.  The  sentence  was  to  be  carried 
into  execution  that  very  night.  They  were  not  even 
to  wait  for  the  return  of  De  Soto,  when  the  informa- 
tion he  would  bring  would  go  far  to  establish  the  truth 
or  the  falsehood  of  the  reports  respecting  the  insur- 
rection of  the  natives.  It  was  desirable  to  obtain  the 
countenance  of  Father  Valverde  to  these  proceedings, 
and  a  copy  of  the  judgment  was  submitted  to  the  friar 
for  his  signature,  which  he  gave  without  hesitation,  de- 
claring that,  "  in  his  opinion,  the  Inca,  at  all  events, 
deserved  death. "  =* 

Yet  there  were  some  few  in  that  martial  conclave 
who  resisted  these  high-handed  measures.  They  con- 
sidered them  as  a  poor  requital  of  all  the  favors  be- 
stowed on  them  by  the  Inca,  who  hitherto  had  received 
at  their  hands  nothing  but  wrong.  They  objected  to 

*s  "  Doppo  1'essersi  molto  disputato,  et  ragionato  deldanno  et  vtile 
che  saria  potuto  auuenire  per  il  viuere  o  morire  di  Atahalipa,  fu  riso- 
luto  che  si  facesse  giustitia  di  lui."  Fed.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio, 
torn.  iii.  fol.  400.)  It  is  the  language  of  a  writer  who  may  be  taken 
as  the  mouthpiece  of  Pizarro  himself.  According  to  him,  the  con- 
clave which  agitated  this  "  question  of  expediency"  consisted  of  the 
"  officers  of  the  crown  and  those  of  the  army,  a  certain  doctor  learned 
in  the  law,  that  chanced  to  be  with  them,  and  the  reverend  Father 
Vicente  de  Valverde." 

26  "  Respondio,  que  firmaria,  qtie  era  bastante.  para  que  el  Inga 
fuese  condenado  &  muerte,  porque  aun  en  lo  exterior  quisieron  justi- 
ficar  su  intento."  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5,  lib.  3,  cap.  4. 


TRIAL    OF    THE    INCA.  469 

.  the  evidence  as  wholly  insufficient ;  and  they  denied 
t  the  authority  of  such  a  tribunal  to  sit  in  judgment  on 
a  sovereign  prince  in  the  heart  of  his  own  dominions. 
If  he  were  to  be  tried,  he  should  be  sent  to  Spain,  and 
his  cause  brought  before  the  emperor,  who  alone  had 
power  to  determine  it. 

But  the  great  majority — and  they  were  ten  to  one — 
overruled  these  objections,  by  declaring  there  was  no 
doubt  of  Atahuallpa's  guilt,  and  they  were  willing  to 
assume  the  responsibility  of  his  punishment.  A  full 
account  of  the  proceedings  would  be  sent  to  Castile, 
and  the  emperor  should  be  informed  who  were  the 
loyal  servants  of  the  crown,  and  who  were  its  enemies. 
The  dispute  ran  so  high  that  for  a  time  it  menaced  an 
open  and  violent  rupture ;  till,  at  length,  convinced 
that  resistance  was  fruitless,  the  weaker  party,  silenced, 
but  not  satisfied,  contented  themselves  with  entering  a 
written  protest  against  these  proceedings,  which  would 
leave  an  indelible  stain  on  the  names  of  all  concerned 
in  them.27 

When  the  sentence  was  communicated  to  the  Inca, 
he  was  greatly  overcome  by  it.  He  had,  indeed,  for 
some  time,  looked  to  such  an  issue  as  probable,  and 
had  been  heard  to  intimate  as  much  to  those  about  him. 
But  the  probability  of  such  an  event  is  very  different 

»7  Garcilasso  has  preserved  the  names  of  some  of  those  who  so 
courageously,  though  ineffectually,  resisted  the  popular  cry  for  the 
Inca's  blood.  (Com.  Real.,  Parte  2,  lib.  i,  cap.  37.)  They  were  doubtr 
less  correct  in  denying  the  right  of  such  a  tribunal  to  sit  in  judgment 
on  an  independent  prince  like  the  Inca  of  Peru,  but  not  so  correct  in 
supposing  that  their  master  the  emperor  had  a  better  right.  Vattel 
(book  ii.  ch.  4)  especially  animadverts  on  this  pretended  trial  of  Ata- 
huallpa,  as  a  manifest  outrage  on  the  law  of  nations. 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  40 


470  CONQUEST   OF   PERT. 

from  its  certainty, — and  that,  too,  so  sudden  and 
speedy.  For  a  moment,  the  overwhelming  conviction 
of  it  unmanned  him,  and  he  exclaimed,  with  tears  in 
his  eyes,  "What  have  I  done,  or  my  children,  that  I 
should  meet  such  a  fate?  And  from  your  hands,  too," 
said  he,  addressing  Pizarro ;  "  you,  who  have  met  with 
friendship  and  kindness  from  my  people,  with  whom  I 
have  shared  my  treasures,  who  have  received  nothing 
but  benefits  from  my  hands!"  In  the  most  piteous 
tones,  he  then  implored  that  his  life  might  be  spared, 
promising  any  guarantee  that  might  be  required  for 
the  safety  of  every  Spaniard  in  the  army, — promising 
double  the  ransom  he  had  already  paid,  if  time  were 
only  given  him  to  obtain  it.38 

An  eye-witness  assures  us  that  Pizarro  was  visibly 
affected,  as  he  turned  away  from  the  Inca,  to  whose 
appeal  he  had  no  power  to  listen  in  opposition  to  the 
voice  of  the  army  and  to  his  own  sense  of  what  was 
due  to  the  security  of  the  country.*9  Atahuallpa,  find- 
ing he  had  no  power  to  turn  his  Conqueror  from  his 
purpose,  recovered  his  habitual  self-possession,  and 
from  that  moment  submitted  himself  to  his  fate  with 
the  courage  of  an  Indian  warrior. 

The  doom  of  the  Inca  was  proclaimed  by  sound  of 
trumpet  in  the  great  square  of  Caxamalca;  and,  two 
hours  after  sunset,  the  Spanish  soldiery  assembled  by 
torch-light  in  the  plaza  to  witness  the  execution  of 

98  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Herrera.  Hist,  general, 
dec.  5,  lib.  3,  cap.  4. — Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  2,  cap.  7. 

"9  "  I  myself,"  says  Pedro  Pizarro,  "saw  the  general  weep."  "  \'o 
vide  llorar  al  marques  de  pesar  por  no  podelle  dar  la  vida  porque 
cierto  temio  los  requirimientos  y  el  rriezgo  que  avia  en  la  tierra  si  se 
soltava."  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 


1//S   EXECUTION.  4?I 

the  sentence.  It  was  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  August, 
1533.  Atahuallpa  was  led  out  chained  hand  and  foot, 
— for  he  had  been  kept  in  irons  ever  since  the  great 
excitement  had  prevailed  in  the  army  respecting  an 
assault.  Father  Vicente  de  Valverde  was  at  his  side, 
striving  to  administer  consolation,  and,  if  possible,  to 
yersuade  him  at  this  last  hour  to  abjure  his  superstition 
a*nd  embrace  the  religion  of  his  Conquerors.  He  was 
willing  to  save  the  soul  of  his  victim  from  the  terrible 
expiation  in  the  next  world  to  which  he  had  so  cheer- 
fully consigned  his  mortal  part  in  this. 

During  Atahuallpa's  confinement,  the  friar,  had  re- 
peatedly expounded  to  him  the  Christian  doctrines, 
and  the  Indian  monarch  discovered  much  acuteness  in 
apprehending  the  discourse  of  his  teacher.  But  it  had 
not  carried  conviction  to  his  mind,  and,  though  he 
listened  with  patience,  he  had  shown  no  disposition 
to  renounce  the  faith  of  his  fathers.  The  Dominican 
made  a  last  appeal  to  him  in  this  solemn  hour ;  and, 
when  Atahuallpa  was  bound  to  the  stake,  with  the 
fagots  that  were  to  kindle  his  funeral  pile  lying  around 
him,  Valverde,  holding  up  the  cross,  besought  him  to 
embrace  it  and  be  baptized,  promising  that,  by  so 
doing,  the  painful  death  to  which  he  had  been  sen- 
tenced should  be  commuted  for  the  milder  form  of  the 
yirr(>fr,—a.  mode  of  punishment  by  strangulation,  used 
for  criminals  in  Spain.30 

3°  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru.  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  234.— Pedro  Pi- 
zarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.— Conq.  i  Pob.  del  Piru,  MS.— Ped. 
Sancho,  Rel..  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  400.— The  garrote  is  a  mode 
of  execution  by  means  of  a  noose  drawn  round  the  criminal's  neck, 
to  the  back  part  of  which  a  stick  is  attached.  By  twisting  this  stick 


472  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

The  unhappy  monarch  asked  if  this  were  really  so, 
and,  on  its  being  confirmed  by  Pizarro,  he  consented 
to  abjure  his  own  religion  and  receive  baptism.  The 
ceremony  was  performed  by  Father  Valverde,  and  the 
new  convert  received  the  name  of  Juan  de  Atahuallpa, 
— the  name  of  Juan  being  conferred  in  honor  of  John 
the  Baptist,  on  whose  day  the  event  took  place.3' 

Atahuallpa  expressed  a  desire  that  his  remains  might 
be  transported  to  Quito,  the  place  of  his  birth,  to  be 
preserved  with  those  of  his  maternal  ancestors.  Then, 
turning  to  Pizarro,  as  a  last  request,  he  implored  him 
to  take  compassion  on  his  young  children  and  receive 
them  under  his  protection.  Was  there  no  other  one  in 
that  dark  compa'hy  who  stood  grimly  around  him,  to 
whom  he  could  look  for  the  protection  of  his  offspring? 
Perhaps  he  thought  there  was  no  other  so  competent  to 
afford  it,  and  that  the  wishes  so  solemnly  expressed  in 
that  hour  might  meet  with  respect  even  from  his  Con- 
queror. Then,  recovering  his  stoical  bearing,  which 
for  a  moment  had  been  shaken,  he  submitted  himself 
calmly  to  his  fate, — while  the  Spaniards,  gathering 
around,  muttered  their  credos  for  the  salvation  of  his 
soul !  *•  Thus  by  the  death  of  a  vile  malefactor 
perished  the  last  of  the  Incas ! 

the  noose  is  tightened  and  suffocation  is  produced.  This  was  the 
mode,  probably,  of  Atahuallpa's  execution.  In  Spain,  instead  of  the 
cord,  an  iron  collar  is  substituted,  which,  by  means  of  a  screw,  is 
compressed  round  the  throat  of  the  sufferer. 

3«  Velasco,  Hist,  de  Quito,  torn.  i.  p.  372. 

32  "*Ma  quando  se  lo  vidde  appressare  per  douer  esser  morto,  disse 
che  raccomandaua  al  Gouernatore  i  suoi  piccioli  figliuoli  che  volesse 
tenersegli  appresso,  &  con  queste  ultime  parole,  &  dicendo  per  1'ani- 
ma  sua  li  Spagnuoli  che  erano  all'  intorno  il  Credo,  fu  subito  affogato." 


fffS    EXECUTION.  473 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  person  and  the  quali- 
ties of  Atahuallpa.  He  had  a  handsome  countenance, 
though  with  an  expression  somewhat  too  fierce  to  be 
pleasing.  His  frame  was  muscular  and  well  propor- 
tioned ;  his  air  commanding ;  and  his  deportment  in 
the  Spanish  quarters  had  a  degree  of  refinement,  the 
more  interesting  that  it  was  touched  with  melancholy. 
He  is  accused  of  having  been  cruel  in  his  wars  and 
bloody  in  his  revenge.33  It  maybe  true,  but  the  pencil  ' 
of  an  enemy  would  be  likely  to  overcharge  the  shadows 
of  the  portrait.  He  is  allowed  to  have  been  bold, 

Fed.  Sancho,  Rel..  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  399. — Xerez,  Conq.  del 
Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  234. — Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.. 
MS.— Nahiirro.  Relacion  sumaria,  MS. — Conq.  i  Pob.  del  Piru,  MS. 
—  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. — Zarate,  Conq.  del  Peru,  lib.  2, 
cap.  7. — The  death  of  Atahuallpa  has  many  points  of  resemblance 
to  that  of  Caupolican,  the  great  Araucanian  chief,  as  described  in 
the  historical  epic  of  Ercilla.  Both  embraced  the  religion  of  their 
conquerors  at  the  stake,  though  Caupolican  was  so  far  less  fortunate 
than  the  Peruvian  monarch  that  his  conversion  did  not  save  him  from 
the  tortures  of  a  most  agonizing  death.  He  was  impaled  and  shot 
with  arrows.  The  spirited  verses  reflect  so  faithfully  the  character  of 
these  early  adventurers,  in  which  the  fanaticism  of  the  Crusader  was 
mingled  with  the  cruelty  of  the  conqueror,  and  they  are  so  germane 
to  the  present  subject,  that  I  would  willingly  quote  the  passage  were 
it  not  too  long.  See  La  Araucana,  Parte  2,  canto  24. 

33 "  Thus  he  paid  the  penalty  of  his  errors  and  cruelties,"  says  Xerez, 
1  for  he  was  the  greatest  butcher,  as  all  agree,  that  the  world  ever  saw  ; 
making  nothing  of  razing  a  whole  town  to  the  ground  for  the  most 
trifling  offence,  and  massacring  a  thousand  persons  for  the  fault  of 
one !"  (Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  234.)  Xerez  was  the 
private  secretary  of  Pizarro.  Sancho,  who,  on  the  departure  of  Xerez 
for  Spain,  succeeded  him  in  the  same  office,  pays  a  more  decent  tribute 
to  the  memory  of  the  Inca.  who,  he  trusts,  "is  received  into  glory, 
since  he  died  penitent  for  his  sins,  and  in  the  true  faith  of  a  Christian." 
Peel.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  399. 
40* 


474  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

high-minded,  and  liberal.14  All  agree  that  he  showed 
singular  penetration  and  quickness  of  perception.  His 
exploits  as  a  warrior  had  placed  his  valor  beyond  dis- 
pute. The  best  homage  to  it  is  the  reluctance  shown 
by  the  Spaniards  to  restore  him  to  freedom.  They 
dreaded  him  as  an  enemy,  and  they  had  done  him  too 
many  wrongs  to  think  that  he  could  be  their  friend. 
Yet  his  conduct  towards  them  from  the  first,  had  been 
most  friendly ;  and  they  repaid  it  with  imprisonment, 
robbery,  and  death. 

The  body  of  the  Inca  remained  on  the  place  of 
execution  through  the  night.  The  following  morning 
it  was  removed  to  the  church  of  San  Francisco,  where 
his  funeral  obsequies  were  performed  with  great  solem- 
nity. Pizarro  and  the  principal  cavaliers  went  into 
mourning,  and  the  troops  listened  with  devout  atten- 
tion to  the  service  of  the  dead  from  the  lips  of  Father 
Valverde.35  The  ceremony  was  interrupted  by  the 
sound  of  loud  cries  and  wailing,  as  of  many  voices  at 
the  doors  of  the  church.  These  were  suddenly  thrown 
open,  and  a  number  of  Indian  women,  the  wives  and 
sisters  of  the  deceased,  rushing  up  the  great  aisle, 
surrounded  the  corpse.  This  was  not  the  way,  they 
cried,  to  celebrate  the  funeral  rites  of  an  Inca;  and 
they  declared  their  intention  to  sacrifice  themselves  on 
his  tomb  and  bear  him  company  to  the  land  of  spirits. 

34  "  El  hera  muy  regalado,  y  muy  Senor,"  says  Pedro  Pizarro.    (De- 
scub.  y  Conq.,  MS.)     "  Mui  dispuesto,  sabio,  animoso,  franco,"  says 
Gomara.     (Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  cap.  118.) 

35  The  secretary  Sancho  seems  to  think  that  the  Peruvians  must 
have  regarded  these  funeral  honors  as  an  ample  compensation  to  Ata- 
huallpa  for  any  wrongs  he  may  have  sustained,  since  they  at  once 
raised  him  to  a  level  with  the  Spaniards  !     Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 


ffIS   EXECUTION.  475 

The  audience,  outraged  by  this  frantic  behavior,  told 
the  intruders  that  Atahuallpa  had  died  in  the  faith  of  a 
Christian,  and  that  the  God  of  the  Christians  abhorred 
such  sacrifices.  They  then  caused  the  women  to  be 
excluded  from  the  church,  and  several,  retiring  to  their 
own  quarters,  laid  violent  hands  on  themselves,  in  the 
vain  hope  of  accompanying  their  beloved  lord  to  the 
bright  mansions  of  the  Sun.36 

Atahuallpa's  remains,  notwithstanding  his  request, 
were  laid  in  the  cemetery  of  San  Francisco.37  But 
from  thence,  as  is  reported,  after  the  Spaniards  left 
Caxamalca,  they  were  secretly  removed,  and  carried, 
as  he  had  desired,  to  Quito.  The  colonists  of  a  later 
time  supposed  that  some  treasures  might  have  been 
buried  with  the  body.  But,  on  excavating  the  ground, 
neither  treasure  nor  remains  were  to  be  discovered.38 

A  day  or  two  after  these  tragic  events,  Hernando 
de  Soto  returned  from  his  excursion.  Great  was  his 
astonishment  and  indignation  at  learning  what  had 

3«  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS.  See  Appendix  No.  10,  where 
I  have  cited  in  the  original  several  of  the  contemporary  notices  of  Ata- 
huallpa's execution,  which  being  in  manuscript  are  not  very  accessible, 
even  to  Spaniards. 

37  "  Oi  dicen  los  indios  que  esta  su  sepulcro  junto  d  una  Cruz  de 
Piedra  Blanca  que  esta  en  el  Cementerio  del  Convento  de  Sn  Fran- 
cisco." Montesinos,  Annales,  MS.,  ano  1533. 

3s  Oviedo.  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte3,  lib.  8,  cap.  22. — Accord- 
ing to  Stevenson,  "  In  the  chapel  belonging  to  the  common  gaol.which 
was  formerly  part  of  the  palace,  the  altar  stands  on  the  stone  on  which 
Atahuallpa  was  placed  by  the  Spaniards  and  strangled,  and  under 
which  he  was  buried."  (Residence  in  South  America,  vol.  ii.  p.  163.) 
Montesinos,  who  wrote  more  than  a  century  after  the  Conquest,  tells 
us  that  "  spots  of  blood  were  still  visible  on  a  broad  flagstone,  in  the 
prison  of  Caxamalca,  on  which  Atahuallpa  was  beheaded."  (Annales, 
MS.,  ano  1533.)— Ignorance  and  credulity  could  scarcely  go  further. 


476  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

been  done  in  his  absence.  He  sought  out  Pizarro  at 
once,  and  found  him,  says  the  chronicler,  "  with  a 
great  felt  hat,  by  way  of  mourning,  slouched  over  his 
eyes,"  and  in  his  dress  and  demeanor  exhibiting  all 
the  show  of  sorrow. »  "  You  have  acted  rashly,"  said 
De  Soto  to  him  bluntly;  "  Atahuallpa  has  been  basely 
slandered.  There  was  no  enemy  at  Huamachuco  ;  no 
rising  among  the  natives.  I  have  met  with  nothing  on 
the  road  but  demonstrations  of  good  will,  and  all  is 
quiet.  If  it  was  necessary  to  bring  the  Inca  to  trial,  he 
should  have  been  taken  to  Castile  and  judged  by  the 
emperor.  I  would  have  pledged  myself  to  see  him 
safe  on  board  the  vessel."40  Pizarro  confessed  that 
he  had  been  precipitate,  and  said  that  he  had  been  de- 
ceived by  Riquelme,  Valverde,  and  the  others.  These 
charges  soon  reached  the  ears  of  the  treasurer  and  the 
Dominican,  who,  in  their  turn,  exculpated  themselves, 
and  upbraided  Pizarro  to  his  face,  as  the  only  one 
responsible  for  the  deed.  The  dispute  ran  high ;  and 
the  parties  were  heard  by  the  by-standers  to  give  one 
another  the  lie  ! 4I  This  vulgar  squabble  among  the 

»  "  Hallaronle  monstrando  mucho  sentimiento  con  un  gran  som- 
brero de  fieltro  puesto  en  la  cabeza  por  luto  e  muy  calado  sobre  los 
ojos."  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  22. 

40  Ibid.,  MS.,  ubi  supra.— Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.— 
See  Appendix  No.  10. 

4*  This  remarkable  account  is  given  by  Oviedo,  not  in  the  body  of 
his  narrative,  but  in  one  of  those  supplementary  chapters  which  he 
makes  the  vehicle  of  the  most  miscellaneous,  yet  oftentimes  important, 
gossip,  respecting  the  great  transactions  of  his  history.  As  he  knew 
familiarly  the  leaders  in  these  transactions,  the  testimony  which  he  col- 
lected, somewhat  at  random,  is  of  high  authority.  The  reader  will 
ftnd  Oviedo's  account  of  the  Inca's  death  extracted,  in  the  original, 
among  the  other  notices  of  this  catastrophe,  in  Appendix  No.  10. 


REFLECTIONS.  477 

leaders,  so  soon  after  the  event,  is  the  best  commentary 
on  the  iniquity  of  their  own  proceedings  and  the  inno- 
cence of  the  Inca. 

The  treatment  of  Atahuallpa,  from  first  to  last,  forms 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  darkest  chapters  in  Spanish  co- 
lonial history.  There  may  have  been  massacres  per- 
petrated on  a  more  extended  scale,  and  executions 
accompanied  with  a  greater  refinement  of  cruelty.  But 
the  blood-stained  annals  of  the  Conquest  afford  no 
such  example  of  cold-hearted  and  systematic  persecu- 
tion, not  of  an  enemy,  but  of  one  whose  whole  deport- 
ment had  been  that  of  a  friend  and  a  benefactor. 

From  the  hour  that  Pizarro  and  his  followers  had 
entered  within  the  sphere  of  Atahuallpa's  influence, 
the  hand  of  friendship  had  been  extended  to  them  by 
the  natives.  Their  first  act,  on  crossing  the  mountains, 
was  to  kidnap  the  monarch  and  massacre  his  people. 
The  seizure  of  his  person  might  be  vindicated,  by 
those  who  considered  the  end  as  justifying  the  means, 
on  the  ground  that  it  was  indispensable  to  secure  the 
triumphs  of  the  Cross.  But  no  such  apology  can  be 
urged  for  the  massacre  of  the  unarmed  and  helpless 
population, — as  wanton  as  it  was  wicked. 

The  long  confinement  of  the  Inca  had  been-  used  by 
the  Conquerors  to  wring  from  him  his  treasures  with 
the  hard  gripe  of  avarice.  During  the  whole  of  this 
dismal  period  he  had  conducted  himself  with  singular 
generosity  and  good  faith.  He  had  opened  a  free 
passage  to  the  Spaniards  through  every  part  of  his  em- 
pire, and  had  furnished  every  facility  for  the  execution 
of  their  plans.  When  these  were  accomplished,  and 
he  remained  an  encumbrance  on  their  hands,  notwith- 


478  CONQUEST   01-    /'AAV. 

standing  their  engagement,  expressed  or  implied,  to 
release  him, — and  Pizarro,  as  we  have  seen,  by  a 
formal  act  acquitted  his  captive  of  any  further  obliga- 
tion on  the  score  of  the  ransom, — he  was  arraigned 
before  a  mock  tribunal,  and,  under  pretences  equally 
false  and  frivolous,  was  condemned  to  an  excruciating 
death.  From  first  to  last,  the  policy  of  the  Spanish 
conquerors  towards  their  unhappy  victim  is  stamj^d 
with  barbarity  and  fraud.  • 

It  is  not  easy  to  acquit  Pizarro  of  being  in  a  great 
degree  responsible  for  this  policy.  His  partisans  have 
labored  to  show  that  it  was  forced  on  him  by  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  case,  and  that  in  the  death  of  the  Inca, 
especially,  he  yielded  reluctantly  to  the  importunities 
of  others.4*  But,  weak  as  is  this  apology,  the  historian 
who  has  the  means  of  comparing  the  various  testimony 
of  the  period  will  come  to  a  different  conclusion.  To 
him  it  will  api>ear  that  Pi/arro  had  probably  long  felt 
the  removal  of  Atahuallpa  to  be  essential  to  the  success 
of  his  enterprise.  He  foresaw  the  odium  that  would 
be  incurred  by  the  death  of  his  royal  captive  without 
sufficient  grounds  ;  while  he  labored  to  establish  these, 
he  still  shrank  from  the  responsibility  of  the  deed,  and 
preferred  to  perpetrate  it  in  obedience  to  the  sugges- 
tions of  others,  rather  than  his  own.  ^ike  many  an 

«2  "  Contra  su  voluntad  sentencio  a  muerte  a  Atahalipa."  (Pedro 
Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.)  "  Contra  voluntad  del  dicho  Gober- 
nador."  (Relacion  del  primer  Descub..  MS.)  "  Ancora  che  molto 
li  dispiacesse  di  venir  a  questo  atto."  (Ped.  Sancho,  Rel..  ap.  Ra- 
musio.  torn.  iii.  fol.  399.)  Even  Oviedo  seems  willing  to  admit  it  pos- 
sible that  Pizarro  may  have  been  somewhat  deceived  by  others  :  "  Que 
tambien  se  puede  creerque  era  enganado."  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS., 
Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  22 


REFLECTIONS.  4?g 

unprincipled  politician,  he  wished  to  reap  the  benefit 
<>!'  a  bad  act  and  let  others  bear  the  blame  of  it. 

Almagro  and  his  followers  are  reported  by  Pizarro's 
secretaries  to  have  first  insisted  on  the  Inca's  death. 
They  were  loudly  supported  by  the  treasurer  and  the 
royal  officers,  who  considered  it  as  indispensable  to 
the  interests  of  the  crown  ;  and,  finally,  the  rumors  of 
a  conspiracy  raised  the  same  cry  among  the  soldiers, 
and  1'ix.arro,  with  all  his  tenderness  for  his  prisoner, 
could  not  refuse  to  bring  him  to  trial.  The  form  of  a 
trial  was  necessary  to  give  an  appearance  of  fairness  to 
the  proceedings.  That  it  was  only  form  is  evident 
from  the  indecent  haste  with  which  it  was  conducted, 
— the  examination  of  evidence,  the  sentence,  and  the 
execution  being  all  on  the  same  day.  The  multiplica- 
tion of  the  charges,  designed  to  place  the  guilt  of  the 
accused  on  the  strongest  ground,  had,  from  their  very 
number,  the  opposite  effect,  proving  only  the  determi- 
nation to  convict  him.  If  Pi/arro  had  felt  the  reluc- 
tance to  his  conviction  which  he  pretended,  why  did  he 
send  De  Soto,  Atahuallpa's  best  friend,  away,  when  the 
inquiry  was  to  be  instituted  ?  Why  was  the  sentence 
so  summarily  executed,  as  not  to  afford  opportunity, 
by  that  cavalier's  return,  of  disproving  the  truth  of 
the  principal  charge, — the  only  one,  in  fact,  with 
which  the  Spaniards  had  any  concern?  The  solemn 
farce  of  mourning  and  deep  sorrow  affected  by  Pizarro, 
who  by  these  honors  to  the  dead  would  intimate  the 
sincere  regard  he  had  entertained  for  the  living,  was 
too  thin  a  veil  to  impose  on  the  most  credulous. 

It  is  not  intended  by  these  reflections  to  exculpate 
the  rest  of  the  army,  and  especially  its  officers,  from 


480  CONQUEST   01- 

their  share  in  the  infamy  of  the  transaction.  But  Pi- 
zarro, as  commander  of  the  army,  was  mainly  respon- 
sible for  its  measures.  For  he  was  not  a  man  to  allow 
his  own  authority  to  be  wrested  from  his  grasp,  or  to 
yield  timidly  to  the  impulses  of  others.  He  did  not 
even  yield  to  his  own.  His  whole  career  shows  him, 
whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  to  have  acted  with  a  cool 
and  calculating  policy. 

A  story  has  been  often  repeated,  which  refers  the 
motives  of  Pizarro's  conduct,  in  some  degree  at  least, 
to  personal  resentment.  The  Inca  had  requested  one 
of  the  Spanish  soldiers  to  write  the  name  of  God  on 
his  nail.  This  the  monarch  showed  to  several  of  his 
guards  successively,  and,  as  they  read  it,  and  each 
pronounced  the  same  word,  the  sagacious  mind  of  the 
barbarian  was  delighted  with  what  seemed  to  him  little 
short  of  a  miracle, — to  which  the  science  of  his  own 
nation  afforded  no  analogy.  On  showing  the  writing 
to  Pizarro,  that  chief  remained  silent;  and  the  Inca, 
finding  he  could  not  read,  conceived  a  contempt  for 
the  commander  who  was  even  less  informed  than  his 
soldiers.  This  he  did  not  wholly  conceal,  and  Pizarro, 
aware  of  the  cause  of  it,  neither  forgot  nor  forgave  it.43 
The  anecdote  is  reported  not  on  the  highest  authority. 
It  may  be  true ;  but  it  is  unnecessary  to  look  for  the 
motives  of  Pizarro's  conduct  in  personal  pique,  when 
so  many  proofs  are  to  be  discerned  of  a  dark  and  de- 
liberate policy. 

Yet  the  arts  of  the  Spanish  chieftain  failed  to  recon- 

«  The  story  is  to  be  found  in  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  (Com.  Real., 
Parte  2,  cap.  38),  and  in  no  other  writer  of  the  period,  so  far  as  I  am 
aware. 


REFLECTIONS.  481 

cile  his  countrymen  to  the  atrocity  of  his  proceedings. 
It  is  singular  to  observe  the  difference  between  the 
tone  assumed  by  the  first  chroniclers  of  the  transac- 
tion, while  it  was  yet  fresh,  and  that  of  those  who 
wrote  when  the  lapse  of  a  few  years  had  shown  the 
tendency  of  public  opinion.  The  first  boldly  avow 
the  deed  as  demanded  by  expediency,  if  not  necessity  ; 
while  they  deal  in  no  measured  terms  of  reproach  with 
the  character  of  their  unfortunate  victim.44  The  latter, 
on  the  other  hand,  while  they  extenuate  the  errors  of 
the  Inca,  and  do  justice  to  his  good  faith,  are  unre- 
served in  their  condemnation  of  the  Conquerors,  on 
whose  conduct,  they  say,  Heaven  set  the  seal  of  its 
own  reprobation,  by  bringing  them  all  to  an  untimely 
and  miserable  end.45  The  sentence  of  contemporaries 

*«  I  have  already  noticed  the  lavish  epithets  heaped  by  Xerez  on  the 
Inca's  cruelty.  This  account  was  printed  in  Spain,  in  1534,  the  year 
after  the  execution.  "  The  proud  tyrant,"  says  the  other  secretary, 
Sancho.  "  would  have  repaid  the  kindness  and  good  treatment  he  had 
received  from  the  governor  and  every  one  of  us  with  the  same  coin 
with  which  he  usually  paid  his  own  followers,  without  any  fault  on 
their  part.— by  putting  them  to  death."  (Fed.  Sancho,  Rel.,ap.  Ra- 
musio.  torn.  iii.  fol.  399.)  "  He  deserved  to  die,"  says  the  old  Spanish 
Conqueror  before  quoted,  "  and  all  the  country  was  rejoiced  that  he 
was  put  out  of  the  way."  Rel.  d'un  Capitano  Spagn.,  ap.  Ramusio. 
torn.  iii.  fol.  377- 

45  ••  Las  demostraciones  que  despues  se  vieron  bien  manifiestan  lo 
mui  injusta  que  fue,  .  .  .  puesto  que  todos  quantos  entendieron  en 
Hla  tuvieron  despues  mui  desastradas  muertes."  (Naharro,  Relacion 
sumariu.  MS.)  Gomara  uses  nearly  the  same  language.  "  No  ai  que 
reprehender  a  los  que  le  mataron,  pues  el  tiempo.i  sus  pecados  los 
castigaron  despues  ;  ca  todos  ellos  acabaron  mal."  (Hist,  de  las  Ind., 
cap.  118.)  According  to  the  former  writer,  Felipillo  paid  the  forfeit 
of  his  crimes,  some  time  afterwards— being  hanged  by  Almagro  on 
the  expedition  to  Chili.-when,  as  "  some  say,  he  confessed  having  per- 
Peru. — VOL.  I.— v  4* 


482  COX  QUEST   OF  PERU. 

has  been  fully  ratified  by  that  of  posterity ; 4*  and  the 
persecution  of  Atahuallpa  is  regarded  with  justice  as 
having  left  a  stain,  never  to  be  effaced,  on  the  Spanish 
arms  in  the  New  World. 

verted  testimony  given  in  favor  of  Atahuallpa's  innocence,  directly 
against  that  monarch."  Oviedo,  usually  ready  enough  to  excuse  the 
excesses  of  his  countrymen,  is  unqualified  in  his  condemnation  of  this 
whole  proceeding  (see  Appendix  No.  10),  which,  says  another  con- 
temporary, "  fills  every  one  with  pity  who  has  a  spark  of  humanity  in 
his  bosom."  Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS. 

4«  The  most  eminent  example  of  this  is  given  by  Quintana  in  his 
memoir  of  Pizarro  (Espafioles  celebres,  torn,  ii.),  throughout  which 
the  writer,  rising  above  the  mists  of  national  prejudice,  which  too 
often  blind  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen,  holds  the  scale  of  historic 
criticism  with  an  impartial  hand,  and  deals  a  full  measure  of  reproba- 
tion to  the  actors  in  these  dismal  scenes. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

DISORDERS  IN  PERU. — MARCH  TO  CUZCO.— ENCOUNTER 
WITH  THE  NATIVES.— CHALLCUCHIMA  BURNT.— ARRI- 
VAL IN  CUZCO. — DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CITY. — TREAS- 
URE FOUND  THERE. 

1533-1534. 

THE  Inca  of  Peru  was  its  sovereign  in  a  peculiar 
sense.  He  received  an  obedience  from  his  vassals 
more  implicit  than  that  of  any  despot ;  for  his  authority 
reached  to  the  most  secret  conduct, — to  the  thoughts 
of  the  individual.  He  was  .reverenced  as  more  than 
human.1  He  was  not  merely  the  head  of  the  state, 
but  the  point  to  which  all  its  institutions  converged, 
as  to  a  common  centre, — the  keystone  of  the  political 
fabric,  which  must  fall  to  pieces  by  its  own  weight 
when  that  was  withdrawn.  So  it  fared  on  the  death 
of  Atahuallpa.2  His  death  not  only  left  the  throne 

'  "  Such  was  the  awe  in  which  the  Inca  was  held,"  says  Pedro  Pi- 
zarro.  "  that  it  was  only  necessary  for  him  to  intimate  his  commands 
to  that  effect,  and  a  Peruvian  would  at  once  jump  down  a  precipice, 
hang  himself,  or  put  an  end  to  his  life  in  any  way  that  was  prescribed." 
Descub.  y  Conq..  MS. 

2  Oviedo  tells  us  that  the  Inca's  right  name  was  Atabaliva,  and  that 
the  Spaniards  usually  misspelt  it,  because  they  thought  much  more  of 
getting  treasure  for  themselves  than  they  did  of  the  name  of  the  per- 
son who  owned  it.  (Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  16.) 
Nevertheless,  I  have  preferred  the  authority  of  G:ircilasso,  who,  a  Pe-  < 
ruvian  himself,  and  a  near  kinsman  of  the  Inca,  must  be  supposed  to 

(483) 


484  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

vacant,  without  any  certain  successor,  but  the  manner 
of  it  announced  to  the  Peruvian  people  that  a  hand 
stronger  than  that  of  their  Incas  had  now  seized  the 
sceptre,  and  that  the  dynasty  of  the  Children  of  the 
Sun  had  passed  away  forever. 

The  natural  consequences  of  such  a  conviction  fol- 
lowed. The  beautiful  order  of  the  ancient  institutions 
was  broken  up,  as  the  authority  which  controlled  it 
was  withdrawn.  The  Indians  broke  out  into  greater 
excesses  from  the  uncommon  restraint  to  which  they 
had  been  before  subjected.  Villages  were  burnt,  tem- 
ples and  palaces  were  plundered,  and  the  gold  they 
contained  was  scattered  or  secreted.  Gold  and  silver 
acquired  an  importance  in  the  eyes  of  the  Peruvian, 
when  he  saw  the  importance  attached  to  them  by  his 
conquerors.  The  precious  metals,  which  before  served 
only  for  purposes  of  state  or  religious  decoration,  were 
now  hoarded  up  and  buried  in  caves  and  forests.  The 
gold  and  silver  concealed  by  the  natives  were  affirmed 
greatly  to  exceed  in  quantity  that  which  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Spaniards.3  The  remote  provinces  now 
shook  off  their  allegiance  to  the  Incas.  Their  great 
captains,  at  the  head  of  distant  armies,  set  up  for 

have  been  well  informed.  His  countrymen,  he  says,  pretended  that 
the  cocks  imported  into  Peru  by  the  Spaniards,  when  they  crowed, 
uttered  the  name  of  Atahuallpa ;  "  and  I  and  the  other  Indian  boys," 
adds  the  historian,  "  when  we  were  at  school,  used  to  mimic  them." 
Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  9,  cap.  23. 

3  "  That  which  the  Inca  gave  the  Spaniards,  said  some  of  the  Indian 
nobles  to  Benalcazar,  the  conqueror  of  Quito,  was  but  as  a  kernel  of 
corn,  compared  with  the  heap  before  him."  (Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las 
Indias,  MS.,  Parte  3,  lib.  8,  cap.  22.)  See  also  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub 
y  Conq.,  MS. — Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


DISORDERS    IN  PERU.  485 

themselves.  Ruminavi,  a  commander  on  the  borders 
of  Quito,  sought  to  detach  that  kingdom  from  the 
Peruvian  empire  and  to  reassert  its  ancient  independ- 
ence. The  country,  in  short,  was  in  that  state  in 
which  old  things  are  passing  away  and  the  new  order 
of  things  has  not  yet  been  established.  It  was  in  a 
state  of  revolution. 

The  authors  of  the  revolution,  Pizarro  and  his  fol- 
lowers, remained  meanwhile  at  Caxamalca.  But  the 
first  step  of  the  Spanish  commander  was  to  name  a 
successor  to  Atahuallpa.  It  would  be  easy  to  govern 
under  the  venerated  authority  to  which  the  homage  of 
the  Indians  had  been  so  long  paid;  and  it  was  not 
difficult  to  find  a  successor.  The  true  heir  to  the 
crown  was  a  second  son  of  Huayna  Capac,  named 
Manco,  a  legitimate  brother  of  the  unfortunate  Huas- 
car.  But  Pizarro  had  too  little  knowledge  of  the 
dispositions  of  this  prince  ;  and  he  made  no  scruple  to 
prefer  a  brother  of  Atahuallpa  and  to  present  him  to 
the  Indian  nobles  as  their  future  Inca.  We  know 
nothing  of  the  character  of  the  young  Toparca,  who 
probably  resigned  himself  without  reluctance  to  a 
destiny  which,  however  humiliating  in  some  points  of 
view,  was  more  exalted  than  he  could  have  hoped  to 
obtain  in  the  regular  course  of  events.  The  ceremo- 
nies attending  a  Peruvian  coronation  were  observed, 
as  well  as  time  would  allow ;  the  brows  of  the  young 
Inca  were  encircled  with  the  imperial  borla  by  the 
hands  of  his  conqueror,  and  he  received  the  homage 
of  his  Indian  vassals.  They  were  the  less  reluctant  to 
pay  it,  as  most  of  those  in  the  camp  belonged  to  the 
faction  of  Quito. 

41* 


486  CONQUEST    Oi- 

All  thoughts  were  now  eagerly  turned  towards  Cu/ro. 
of  which  the  most  glowing  accounts  were  circulated 
among  the  soldiers,  and  whose  temples  and  royal 
palaces  were  represented  as  blazing  with  gold  and 
silver.  With  imaginations  thus  excited,  Pizarro  and 
his  entire  company,  amounting  to  almost  five  hundred 
men,  of  whom  nearly  a  third,  probably,  were  cavalry, 
took  their  departure  early  in  September  from  Caxa 
malca, — a  place  ever  memorable  as  the  theatre  of  some 
of  the  most  strange  and  sanguinary  scenes  recorded  in 
history.  All  set  forward  in  high  spirits, — the  soldiers 
of  Pizarro  from  the  expectation  of  doubling  their 
present  riches,  and  Almagro's  followers  from  the  pros- 
pect of  sharing  equally  in  the  spoil  with  "  the  first 
conquerors."4  The  young  Inca  and  the  old  chief 
Challcuchima  accompanied  the  march  in  their  litters, 
attended  by  a  numerous  retinue  of  vassals,  and  moving 
in  as  much  state  and  ceremony  as  if  in  the  possession 
of  real  power.5 

Their  course  lay  along  the  great  road  of  the  Incas, 
which  stretched  across  the  elevated  regions  of  the 
Cordilleras,  all  the  way  to  Cuzco.  It  was  of  nearly 
a  uniform  breadth,  though  constructed  with  different 
degrees  of  care,  according  to  the  ground.6  Sometimes 
it  crossed  smooth  and  level  valleys,  which  offered  of 

*  The  "  first  conquerors,"  according  to  Garcilasso,  were  held  in 
especial  honor  by  those  who  came  after  them,  though  they  were,  on 
the  whole,  men  of  less  consideration  and  fortune  than  the  latter  ad- 
venturers. Com.  Real.,  Parte  i.  lib.  7,  cap.  9. 

5  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Naharro,  Relacion  suma- 
ria,  MS.— Ped.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  400. 

6  "  Va  todo  el  camino  de  una  traza  y  anchura  hecho  d  rnano."  Re- 
lacion del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


MARCH   TO  CUZCO.  487 

themselves  little  impediment  to  the  traveller;  at  other 
times  it  followed  the  course  of  a  mountain-stream  that 
(lowed  round  the  base  of  some  beetling  cliff,  leaving 
small  space  for  the  foothold ;  at  others,  again,  where 
the  sierra  was  so  precipitous  that  it  seemed  to  preclude 
all  farther  progress,  the  road,  accommodated  to  the 
natural  sinuosities  of  the  ground,  wound  round  the 
heights  which  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  scale 
directly.7 

But,  although  managed  with  great  address,  it  was  a 
formidable  passage  for  the  cavalry.  The  mountain  was 
hewn  into  steps,  but  the  rocky  ledges  cut  up  the  hoofs 
of  the  horses ;  and,  though  the-  troopers  dismounted 
and  led  them  by  the  bridle,  they  suffered  severely  in 
their  efforts  to  keep  their  footing.8  The  road  was 
constructed  for  man  and  the  light-footed  llama;  and 
the  only  heavy  beast  of  burden  at  all  suited  to  it  was 
the  sagacious  and  sure-footed  mule,  with  which  the 
Spanish  adventurers  were  not  then  provided.  It  was  a 
singular  chance  that  Spain  was  the  land  of  the  mule ; 
and  thus  the  country  was  speedily  supplied  with  the 
very  animal  which  seems  to  have  been  created  for  the 
difficult  passes  of  the  Cordilleras. 

Another  obstacle,  often  occurring,  was  the  deep 
torrents  that  rushed  down  in  fury  from  the  Andes. 
They  were  traversed  by  the  hanging  bridges  of  osier, 
whose  frail  materials  were  after  a  time  broken  up 
by  the  heavy  tread  of  the  cavalry,  and  the  holes  made 
in  them  added  materially  to  the  dangers  of  the  passage. 

7  "  En  muchas  paries  viendo  lo  que  estd  adelante,  parece  cosa  im- 
possible poderlo  pasar."     Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 

8  Fed.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  Hi.  fol,  404. 


488  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

On  such  occasions  the  Spaniards  contrived  to  work 
their  way  across  the  rivers  on  rafts,  swimming  their 
horses  by  the  bridle.9 

All  along  the  route  they  found  post-houses  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  royal  couriers,  established  at 
regular  intervals ;  and  magazines  of  grain  and  other 
commodities,  provided  in  the  principal  towns  for  the 
Indian  armies.  The  Spaniards  profited  by  the  prudent 
forecast  of  the  Peruvian  government. 

Passing  through  several  hamlets  and  towns  of  some 
note,  the  principal  of  which  were  Huamachuco  and 
Huanuco,  Pizarro,  after  a  tedious  march,  came  in 
sight  of  the  rich  valley  of  Xauxa.  The  march,  though 
tedious,  had  been  attended  with  little  suffering,  ex- 
cept in  crossing  the  bristling  crests  of  the  Cordilleras, 
which  occasionally  obstructed  their  path, — a  rough 
setting  to  the  beautiful  valleys  that  lay  scattered  like 
gems  along  this  elevated  region.  In  the  mountain- 
passes  they  found  some  inconvenience  from  the  cold  ; 
since,  to. move  more  quickly,  they  had  disencumbered 
themselves  of  all  superfluous  baggage,  and  were  even 
unprovided  with  tents.10  The  bleak  winds  of  the 
mountains  penetrated  the  thick  harness  of  the  soldiers ; 
but  the  poor  Indians,  more  scantily  clothed,  and  ac- 
customed to  a  tropical  climate,  suffered  most  severely. 
The  Spaniard  seemed  to  have  a  hardihood  of  body, 
as  of  soul,  that  rendered  him  almost  indifferent  to 
climate. 

9  Fed.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  ubi  supra.— Relacion  del  primer 
Descub.,  MS. 

10  "  La  notte  dormirono  tutti  in  quella  campagna  senza  coperto 
alcuno.  sopra  la  neue,  ne  pur  hebber  souuenimento  di  legne  ne  da 
mangiare."     Fed.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  401. 


MARCH    TO  CUZCO.  489 

On  the  march  they  had  not  been  molested  by 
enemies.  But  more  than  once  they  had  seen  vestiges 
of  them  in  smoking  hamlets  and  ruined  bridges. 
Reports,  from  time  to  time,  had  reached  Pizarro  of 
warriors  on  his  track ;  and  small  bodies  of  Indians 
were  occasionally  seen  like  dusky  clouds  on  the  verge 
of  the  horizon,  which  vanished  as  the  Spaniards  ap- 
proached. On  reaching  Xauxa,  however,  these  clouds 
gathered  into  one  dark  mass  of  warriors,  which  formed 
on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river  that  flowed  through 
the  valley. 

The  Spaniards  advanced  to  the  stream,  which,  swollen 
by  the  melting  of  the  snows,  was  now  of  considerable 
width,  though  not  deep.  The  bridge  had  been  de- 
stroyed ;  but  the  Conquerors,  without  hesitation,  dash- 
ing boldly  in,  advanced,  swimming  and  wading,  as 
they  best  could,  to  the  opposite  bank.  The  Indians, 
disconcerted  by  this  decided  movement,  as  they  had 
relied  on  their  watery  defences,  took  to  flight,  after 
letting  off  an  impotent  volley  of  missiles.  Fear  gave 
wings  to  the  fugitives ;  but  the  horse  and  his  rider 
were  swifter,  and  the  victorious  pursuers  took  bloody 
vengeance  on  their  enemy  for  having  dared  even  to 
meditate  resistance. 

Xauxa  was  a  considerable  town.  It  was  the  place 
already  noticed  as  having  been  visited  by  Hernando 
Pizarro.  It  was  seated  in  the  midst  of  a  verdant  valley, 
fertilized  by  a  thousand  little  rills,  which  the  thrifty 
Indian  husbandmen  drew  from  the  parent  river  that 
rolled  sluggishly  through  the  meadows.  There  were 
several  capacious  buildings  of  rough  stone  in  the  town, 
and  a  temple  of  some  note  in  the  times  of  the  Incas. 


490 

P.ut  the  strong  anv»  of  Father  Yalverde  and  his  country- 
men soon  tumbled  the  heathen  deities  from  their  pride 
of  place,  and  established,  in  their  stead,  the  sacred 
effigies  of  the  Virgin  and  Child. 

Here  Pi/.arro  proposed  to  halt  for  some  days,  and  to 
found  a  Spanish  colony.  It  was  a  favorable  jxjsition, 
he  thought,  for  holding  the  Indian  mountaineer*  in 
check,  while  at  the  same  time  it  afforded  an  easy  com- 
munication with  the  sea-coast.  Meanwhile  he  deter- 
mined to  send  forward  De  Soto,  with  a  detachment 
of  sixty  horse,  to  reconnoitre  the  country  in  advance, 
and  to  restore  the  bridges  where  demolished  by  the 
enemy." 

That  active  cavalier  set  forward  at  once,  but  found 
considerable  impediments  to  his  progress.  The  traces 
of  an  enemy  became  more  frequent  as  he  advanced. 
The  villages  were  burnt,  the  bridges  destroyed,  and 
heavy  rocks  and  trees  strewed  in  the  ]>ath  to  impede 
the  march  of  the  cavalry.  As  he  drew  near  to  Bilcas, 
once  an  important  place,  though  now  effaced  from  the 
map,  he  had  a  sharp  encounter  with  the  natives,  in  a 
mountain-defile,  which  cost  him  the  lives  of  two  or 
three  troopers.  The  loss  was  light ;  but  any  loss  was 
felt  by  the  Spaniards,  so  little  accustomed  as  they  had 
been  of  late  to  resistance. 

Still  pressing  forward,  the  Spanish  captain  crossed 
the  river  Abancay  and  the  broad  waters  of  the  Apuri- 
mac ;  and,  as  he  drew  near  the  sierra  "of  Vilcaconga, 

11  Carta  de  la  Justicia  y  Regimiento  de  laCiudad  de  Xauja,  MS. — 
Pedro  Pizarro.  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.— Conq.  i  Fob.  del  Piru,  MS.— 
Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  5.  lib.  4.  cap.  10. — Relacion  del  primer 
Descub.,  MS. 


ENCOUNTER    \\Trir    THE    KATll'KS.         491 

he  learned  that  a  considerable  body  of  Indians  lay  in 
wait  for  him  in  the  dangerous  passes  of  the  mountains. 
The  sierra  was  several  leagues  from  Cuzco ;  and  the 
cavalier,  desirous  to  reach  the  farther  side  of  it  before 
nightfall,  incautiously  pushed  on  his  weaned  horses. 
When  he  was  fairly  entangled  in  its  rocky  defiles,  a 
multitude  of  armed  warriors,  springing,  as  it  seemed, 
from  every  cavern  and  thicket  of  the  sierra,  filled  the 
air  with  their  war-cries,  and  rushed  down,  like  one  of 
their  own  mountain-torrents,  on  the  invaders,  as  they 
were  painfully  toiling  up  the  steeps.  Men  and  horses 
were  overturned  in  the  fury  of  the  assault,  and  the 
foremost  files,  rolling  back  on  those  below,  spread  ruin 
and  consternation  in  their  ranks.  De  Soto  in  vain 
endeavored  to  restore  order,  and,  if  possible,  to  charge 
the  assailants.  The  horses  were  blinded  and  maddened 
by  the  missiles,  while  the  desperate  natives,  clinging 
to  their  legs,  strove  to  prevent  their  ascent  up  the 
rocky  pathway.  De  Soto  saw  that,  unless  he  gained  a 
level  ground  which  opened  at  some  distance  before 
him,  all  must  be  lost.  Cheering  on  his  men  with  the 
old  battle-cry,  that  always  went  to  the  heart  of  a 
Spaniard,  he  struck  his  spurs  deep  into  the  sides  of  his 
wearied  charger,  and,  gallantly  supported  by  his  troop, 
broke  through  the  dark  array  of  warriors,  and,  shaking 
them  off  to  the  right  and  left,  at  length  succeeded  in 
placing  himself  on  the  broad  level. 

Here  both  parties  paused,  as  if  by  mutual  consent, 
for  a  few  moments.  A  little  stream  ran  through  the 
plain,  at  which  the  Spaniards  watered  their  horses ;" 
and,  the  animals  having  recovered  wind,  De  Soto  and 

«  Fed.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iti.  fol.  405. 


492  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

his  men  made  a  desperate  charge  on  their  assailants. 
The  undaunted  Indians  sustained  the  shock  with  firm- 
ness ;  and  the  result  of  the  combat  was  still  doubtful, 
when  the  shades  of  evening,  falling  thicker  around 
them,  separated  the  combatants. 

Both  parties  then  withdrew  from  the  field,  taking  up 
their  respective  stations  within  bow-shot  of  each  other, 
so  that  the  voices  of  the  warriors  on  either  side  could 
be  distinctly  heard  in  the  stillness  of  the  night.  But 
very  different  were  the  reflections  of  the  two  hosts. 
The  Indians,  exulting  in  their  temporary  triumph, 
looked  with  confidence  to  the  morrow  to  complete  it. 
The  Spaniards,  on  the  other  hand,  were  proportion- 
ably  discouraged.  They  were  not  prepared  for  this 
spirit  of  resistance  in  an  enemy  hitherto  so  tame. 
Several  cavaliers  had  fallen, — one  of  them  by  a  blow 
from  a  Peruvian  battle-axe,  which  clove  his  head  to 
the  chin,  attesting  the  power  of  the  weapon  and  of 
the  arm  that  used  it.'3  Several  horses,  too,  had  been 
killed ;  and  the  loss  of  these  was  almost  as  severely 
felt  as  that  of  their  riders,  considering  the  great  cost 
and  difficulty  of  transporting  them  to  these  distant 
regions.  Few  either  of  the  men  or  horses  had  escaped 
without  wounds,  and  the  Indian  allies  had  suffered  still 
more  severely. 

It  seemed  probable,  from  the  pertinacity  and  a  cer- 
tain order  maintained  in  the  assault,  that  it  was  directed 
by  some  leader  of  military  experience, — perhaps  the 
Indian  commander  Quizquiz,  who  was  said  to  be  hang- 
ing round  the  environs  of  Cuzco  with  a  considerable 
force. 

»3  Fed.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  loc.  cif. 


ENCOUNTER  irrr/i  THE  .       493 

Notwithstanding  the  reasonable  cause  of  apprehen- 
sion for  the  morrow,  De  Soto,  like  a  stout-hearted 
cavalier  as  he  was,  strove  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  his 
followers.  If  they  had  beaten  off  the  enemy  when 
their  horses  were  jaded  and  their  own  strength  nearly 
exhausted,  how  much  easier  it  would  be  to  come  off 
victorious  when  both  were  restored  by  a  night's  rest ! 
and  he  told  them  to  "trust  in  the  Almighty,  who 
would  never  desert  his  faithful  followers  in  their  ex- 
tremity." The  event  justified  De  Soto's  confidence  in 
this  seasonable  succor. 

From  time  to  time,  on  his  march,  he  had  sent  ad- 
vices to  Pizarro  of  the  menacing  state  of  the  country, 
till  his  commander,  becoming  seriously  alarmed,  was 
apprehensive  that  the  cavalier  might  be  overpowered 
by  the  superior  numbers  of  the  enemy.  He  accord- 
ingly detached  Almagro,  with  nearly  all  the  remaining 
horse,  to  his  support, — unencumbered  by  infantry, 
that  he  might  move  the  faster.  That  efficient  leader 
advanced  by  forced  marches,  stimulated  by  the  tidings 
which  met  him  on  the  road,  and  was  so  fortunate  as 
to  reach  the  foot  of  the  sierra  of  Vilcaconga  the  very 
night  of  the  engagement. 

There,  hearing  of  the  encounter,  he  pushed  forward 
without  halting,  though  his  horses  were  spent  with 
travel.  The  night  was  exceedingly  dark,  and  Almagro, 
afraid  of  stumbling  on  the  enemy's  bivouac,  and  de- 
sirous to  give  De  Soto  information  of  his  approach, 
commanded  his  trumpets  to  sound,  till  the  notes, 
winding  through  the  defiles  of  the  mountains,  broke 
the  slumbers  of  his  countrymen,  sounding  like  blithest 
music  in  their  ears.  They  quickly  replied  with  their 
Peru.— VOL.  I.  42 


494  COXQl'EST    Ol-    PERT. 

own  bugles,  and  soon  had  the  satisfaction  to  embrace 
their  deliverers.'4 

Great  was  the  dismay  of  the  Peruvian  host  when 
the  morning  light  discovered  the  fresh  reinforcement 
of  the  ranks  of  the  Spaniards.  There  was  no  use  in 
contending  with  an  enemy  who  gathered  strength  from 
the  conflict,  and  who  seemed  to  multiply  his  numbers 
at  will.  Without  further  attempt  to  renew  the  fight, 
they  availed  themselves  of  a  thick  fog,  which  hung 
over  the  lower  slopes  of  the  hills,  to  effect  their  re- 
treat, and  left  the  passes  open  to  the  invaders.  The 
two  cavaliers  then  continued  their  march  until  they 
extricated  their  forces  from  the  sierra,  when,  taking 
up  a  secure  position,  they  proposed  to  await  there  the 
arrival  of  Pizarro.'5 

The  commander-in-chief,  meanwhile,  lay  at  Xauxa, 
where  he  was  greatly  disturbed  by  the  rumors  which 
reached  him  of  the  state  of  the  country.  His  enter- 
prise, thus  far,  had  gone  forward  so  smoothly  that  he 
was  no  better  prepared  than  his  lieutenant  to  meet 
with  resistance  from  the  natives.  He  did  not  seem  to 
comprehend  that  the  mildest  nature  might  at  last  be 
roused  by  oppression,  and  that  the  massacre  of  their 
Inca,  whom  they  regarded  with  such  awful  veneration, 
would  be  likely,  if  any  thing  could  do  it,  to  wake  them 
from  their  apathy. 

The  tidings  which  he  now  received  of  the  retreat  of 

«*  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general, 
dec.  5.  lib.  5,  cap.  3. 

»s  The  account  of  De  Soto's  affair  with  the  natives  is  given  in  more 
or  less  detail,  by  Ped.  Sancho.  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  405, — 
Conq.  i  Pob.  del  Piru,  MS.,— Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS.,— 
Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS., — persons  all  present  in  the  army. 


CHALLCUCHIMA    HURNT.  .  495 

the  Peruvians  were  most  welcome  ;  and  he  caused  mass 
to  be  said,  and  thanksgiving  to  be  offered  up  to 
Heaven,  "  which  had  shown  itself  thus  favorable  to  the 
Christians  throughout  this  mighty  enterprise."  The 
Spaniard  was  ever  a  Crusader.  He  was  in  the  six- 
teenth century  what  Cceur  de  Lion  and  his  brave 
knights  were  in  the  twelfth,  with  this  difference ;  the 
cavalier  of  that  day  fought  for  the  Cross  and  for  glory, 
while  gold  and  the  Cross  were  the  watchwords  of  the 
Spaniard.  The  spirit  of  chivalry  had  waned  somewhat 
before  the  spirit  of  trade  ;  but  the  fire  of  religious  en- 
thusiasm still  burned  as  bright  under  the  quilted  mail 
of  the  American  Conqueror  as  it  did  of  yore  under  the 
iron  panoply  of  the  soldier  of  Palestine. 

It  seemed  probable  that  some  man  of  authority  had 
organized,  or  at  least  countenanced,  this  resistance  of 
the  natives ;  and  suspicion  fell  on  the  captive  chief 
Challcuchima,  who  was  accused  of  maintaining  a  secret 
correspondence  with  his  confederate  Quizquiz.  Pizarro 
waited  on  the  Indian  noble,  and,  charging  him  with 
the  conspiracy,  reproached  him,  as  he  had  formerly 
done  his  royal  master,  with  ingratitude  towards  the 
Spaniards,  who  had  dealt  with  him  so  liberally.  He 
concluded  by  the  assurance  that,  if  he  did  not  cause 
the  Peruvians  to  lay  down  their  arms  and  tender  their 
submission  at  once,  he  should  be  burnt  alive  so  soon  as 
they  reached  Almagro's  quarters.16 

The  Indian  chief  listened  to  the  terrible  menace  with 
the  utmost  composure.  He  denied  having  had  any 
communications  with  his  countrymen,  and  said  that,  in 

«6  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS.— Ped.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap. 
Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  406. 


496  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

his  present  state  of  confinement  at  least,  he  could  have 
no  power  to  bring  them  to  submission.  He  then  re- 
mained doggedly  silent,  and  Pizarro  did  not  press  the 
matter  further.17  But  he  placed  a  strong  guard  over 
his  prisoner,  and  caused  him  to  be  put  in  irons.  It 
was  an  ominous  proceeding,  and  had  been  the  precur- 
sor of  the  death  of  Atahuallpa. 

Before  quitting  Xauxa,  a  misfortune  befell  the  Span- 
iards, in  the  death  of  their  creature  the  young  Inca 
Toparca.  Suspicion,  of  course,  fell  on  Challcuchima, 
now  selected  as  the  scape-goat  for  all  the  offences  of 
his  nation.18  It  was  a  disappointment  to  Pizarro,  who 
hoped  to  find  a  convenient  shelter  for  his  future  pro- 
ceedings under  this  shadow  of  royalty.1' 

The  general  considered  it  most  prudent  not  to  hazard 
the  loss  of  his  treasures  by  taking  them  on  the  march, 
and  he  accordingly  left  them  at  Xauxa,  under  a  guard 
of  forty  soldiers,  who  remained  there  in  garrison.  No 
event  of  importance  occurred  on  the  road,  and,  Pizarro 

'7  Ped.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  ubi  supra. 

'8  It  seems,  from  the  language  of  the  letter  addressed  to  the  empe- 
ror by  the  municipality  of  Xauxa.  that  the  troops  themselves  were  far 
from  being  convinced  of  Challcuchima's  guilt :  "  Publico  fue,  aunque 
dello  no  ubo  averiguacion  in  certenidad,  que  el  capitan  Chaliconiman 
le  abia  dado  ierbas  o  a  beber  con  que  murio."  Carta  de  la  Just,  y 
Reg.  de  Xauja,  MS. 

'9  According  to  Velasco,  Toparca,  whom,  however,  he  calls  by 
another  name,  tore  off  the  diadem  bestowed  on  him  by  Pizarro,  with 
disdain,  and  died  in  a  few  weeks  of  chagrin.  (Hist,  de  Quito,  torn, 
i-  P-  377-)  This  writer,  a  Jesuit  of  Quito,  seems  to  feel  himself  bound 
to  make  out  as  good  a  case  for  Atahuallpa  and  his  family  as  if  he  had 
been  expressly  retained  jn  their  behalf.  His  vouchers — when  he  con- 
descends to  give  any — too  rarely  bear  him  out  in  his  statements  to 
inspire  us  with  much  confidence  in  his  correctness. 


CHALLCUCHLMA    BCKXT.  49? 

having  effected  a  junction  with  Almagro,  their  united 
forces  soon  entered  the  vale  of  Xaquixaguana,  about 
five  leagues  from  Cuzco.  This  was  one  of  those  bright 
sj)ots,  so  often  found  embosomed  amidst  the  Andes,  the 
more  beautiful  from  contrast  with  the  savage  character 
of  the  scenery  around  it.  A  river  flowed  through  the 
valley,  affording  the  means  of  irrigating  the  soil  and 
clothing  it  in  perpetual  verdure;  and  the  rich  and 
flowering  vegetation  spread  out  like  a  cultivated  garden., 
The  beauty  of  the  place  and  its  delicious  coolness  com- 
mended it  as  a  residence  for  the  Peruvian  nobles,  and 
the  sides  of  the  hills  were  dotted  with  their  villas, 
which  afforded  them  a  grateful  retreat  in  the  heats  of 
summer."  Yet  the  centre  of  the  valley  was  disfigured 
by  a  quagmire  of  some  extent,  occasioned  by  the 
frequent  overflowing  of  the  waters ;  but  the  industry 
of  the  Indian  architects  had  constructed  a  solid  cause- 
way, faced  with  heavy  stone,  and  connected  with  the 
great  road,  which  traversed  the  whole  breadth  of  the 
morass. " 

In  this  valley  Pizarro  halted  for  several  days,  while 
he  refreshed  his  troops  from  the  well-stored  magazines 
of  the  Incas.  His  first  act  was  to  bring  Challcuchima 
to  trial, — if  trial  that  could  be  called,  where  sentence 
may  be  said  to  have  gone  hand  in  hand  with  accusation. 
We  are  not  informed  of  the  nature  of  the  evidence.  It 
was  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  Spanish  captains  of  the 
chieftain's  guilt.  Nor  is  it  at  all  incredible  that  Chall- 

30  "  Auia  en  este  valle  muy  sumptuosos  aposentos  y  ricos  adonde 
los  senores  del  Cuzco  salian  a  totnar  sus  plazeres  y  solazes."  Cieza 
de  Leon.  Cronica,  cap.  91. 

«  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

42* 


498  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

cuchima  should  have  secretly  encouraged  a  movement 
among  the  people,  designed  to  secure  his  country's 
freedom  and  his  own.  He  was  condemned  to  be  burnt 
alive  on  the  spot.  "  Some  thought  it  a  hard  measure," 
says  Herrera ;  "  but  those  who  are  governed  by  reasons 
of  state  policy  are  apt  to  shut  their  eyes  against  every 
thing  else."  "  Why  this  cruel  mode  of  execution  was 
so  often  adopted  by  the  Spanish  Conquerors  is  not  ob- 
vious ;  unless  it  was  that  the  Indian  was  an  infidel,  and 
fire,  from  ancient  date,  seems  to  have  been  considered 
the  fitting  doom  of  the  infidel,  as  the  type  of  that  in- 
extinguishable flame  which  awaited  him  in  the  regions 
of  the  damned. 

Father:  Valverde  accompanied  the  Peruvian  chieftain 
to  the  stake.  He  seems  always  to  have  been  present 
at  this  dreary  moment,  anxious  to  profit  by  it,  if  possi- 
ble, to  work  the  conversion  of  the  victim.  He  painted 
in  gloomy  colors  the  dreadful  doom  of  the  unbeliever, 
to  whom  the  waters  of  baptism  could  alone  secure  the 
ineffable  glories  of  paradise.23  It  does  not  appear  that 
he  promised  any  commutation  of  punishment  in  this 
world.  But  his  arguments  fell  on  a  stony  heart,  and 
the  chief  coldly  replied,  he  "did  not  understand  the 
religion  of  the  white  men."  **  He  might  be  pardoned 
for  not  comprehending  the  beauty  of  a  faith  which,  as 
it  would  seem,  had  borne'  so  bitter  fruits  to  him.  In 
the  midst  of  his  tortures  he  showed  the  characteristic 
courage  of  the  American  Indian,  whose  power  of % en- 
durance triumphs  over  the  power  of  persecution  in  his 

38  Hist,  general,  dec.  5.  lib.  6.  cap.  3. 

•»  Fed.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio.  torn.  iii.  fbL  406. 

**  Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 


CHALLCVCHIMA    BURNT.  495 

enemies,  and  he  died  with  his  last  breath  invoking  the 
name  of  Pachacamac.  His  own  followers  brought  the 
fagots  to  feed  the  flames  that  consumed  him.25 

Soon  after  this  tragic  event,  Pizarro  was  surprised  by 
a  visit  from  a  Peruvian  noble,  who  came  in  great  state, 
attended  by  a  numerous  and  showy  retinue.  It  was 
the  young  prince  Manco,  brother  of  the  unfortunate 
Huascar,  and  the  rightful  successor  to  the  crown. 
Being  brought  before  the  Spanish  commander,  he  an- 
nounced his  pretensions  to  the  throne,  and  claimed  the 
protection  of  the  strangers.  It  is  said  he  had  medi- 
tated resisting  them  by  arms,  and  had  encouraged  the 
assaults  made  on  them  on  their  march,  but,  finding 
resistance  ineffectual,  he  had  taken  this  politic  course, 
greatly  to  the  displeasure  of  his  more  resolute  nobles. 
However  this  may  be,  Pizarro  listened  to  his  applica- 
tion with  singular  contentment,  for  he  saw  in  this  new 
scion  of  the  true  royal  stock  a  more  effectual  instru- 
ment for  his  purposes  than  he  could  have  found  in  the 
family  of  Quito,  with  whom  the  Peruvians  had  but 
little  sympathy.  He  received  the  young  man,  there- 
fore, with  great  cordiality,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
assure  him  that  he  had  been  sent  into  the  country  by 
his  master,  the  Castilian  sovereign,  in  order  to  vindi- 
cate the  claims  of  Huascar  to  the  crown  and  to  punish 
the  usurpation  of  his  rival.26 

Taking  with  him  the  Indian  prince,*  Pizarro  now 

»s  Pedro  Sancho.  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  loc.  cit.— Pedro  Pizarro,  De- 
scub.  y  Conq.,  MS.— The  MS.  of  the  old  Conqueror  is  so  much  dam- 
aged in  this  part  of  it  that  much  of  his  account  is  entirely  effaced. 

*  Ped.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  406.— Pedro  Pizarro, 
Descub.  y  Conq..  MS. 


500  co.\'Qi'Esr  or  PERU. 

resumed  his  march.  It  was  interrupted  for  a  few  hours 
by  a  party  of  the  natives,  who  lay  in  wait  for  him  in 
the  neighboring  sierra.  A  sharp  skirmish  ensued,  in 
which  the  Indians  behaved  with  great  spirit  and  in- 
flicted some  little  injury  on  the  Spaniards ;  but  the 
latter  at  length,  shaking  them  off,  made  good  their 
passage  through  the  defile,  and  the  enemy  did  not  care 
to  follow  them  into  the  open  country. 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  the  Conquerors 
came  in  sight  of  Cuzco.*7  The  descending  sun  was 
streaming  his  broad  rays  full  on  the  imperial  city, 
where  many  an  altar  was  dedicated  to  his  worship. 
The  low  ranges  of  buildings,  showing  in  his  beams  like 
so  many  lines  of  silvery  light,  filled  up  the  bosom  of 
the  valley  and  the  lower  slopes  of  the  mountains,  whose 
shadowy  forms  hung  darkly  over  the  fair  city,  as  if  to 
shield  it  from  the  menaced  profanation.  It  was  so  late 
that  Pizarro  resolved  to  defer  his  entrance  till  the  follow- 
ing morning. 

That  night  vigilant  guard  was  kept  in  the  camp,  and 
the  soldiers  slept  on  their  arms.  But  it  passed  away 
without  annoyance  from  the  enemy,  and  early  on  the 
following  day,  November  i5th,  1533,  Pizarro  prepared 
for  his  entrance  into  the  Peruvian  capital.* 

The  little  army  was  formed  into  three  divisions,  of 
which  the  centre,  or  "battle,"  as  it  was  called,  was 
led  by  the  general.  The  suburbs  were  thronged  with 

*7  "  Y  dos  horas  antes  que  el  Sol  se  pusiese,  llegaron  &  vista  de  la 
ciudad  del  Cuzco."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 

*  The  chronicles  differ  as  to  the  precise  date.  There  can  be  no 
better  authorities  than  Pedro  Sancho's  narrative  and  the  Letter  of  the 
Magistrates  of  Xauxa,  which  I  have  followed  in  the  text. 


ARRIVAL    IN  CUZCO.  rol 

a  countless  multitude  of  the  natives,  who  had  flocked 
from  the  city  and  the  surrounding  country  to  witness 
the  showy  and,  to  them,  startling  pageant.  All  looked 
with  eager  curiosity  on  the  strangers,  the  fame  of  whose 
terrible  exploits  had  spread  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the 
empire.  They  gazed  with  astonishment  on  their  daz- 
zling arms  and  fair  complexions,  which  seemed  to  pro- 
claim them  the  true  Children  of  the  Sun ;  and  they 
listened  with  feelings  of  mysterious  dread  as  the  trumpet 
sent  forth  its  prolonged  notes  through  the  streets  of  the 
capital  and  the  solid  ground  shook  under  the  heavy 
tramp  of  the  cavalry. 

The  Spanish  commander  rode  directly  up  the  great 
square.  It  was  surrounded  by  low  piles  of  buildings, 
among  which  were  several  palaces  of  the  Incas.  One 
of  these,  erected  by  Huayna  Capac,  was  surmounted 
by  a  tower,  while  the  ground-floor  was  occupied  by  one 
or  more  immense  halls,  like  those  described  in  Caxa- 
malca,  where  the  Peruvian  nobles  held  their  fetes  in 
stormy  weather.  These  buildings  afforded  convenient 
barracks  for  the  troops,  though  during  the  first  few 
weeks  they  remained  under  their  tents  in  the  open 
plaza,  with  their  horses  picketed  by  their  side,  ready 
to  repulse  any  insurrection  of  the  inhabitants.29 

The  capital  of  the  Incas,  though  falling  short  of  the 
El  Dorado  which  had  engaged  their  credulous  fancies, 
astonished  the  Spaniards  by  the  beauty  of  its  edifices, 
the  length  and  regularity  of  its  streets,  and  the  good 
order  and  appearance  of  comfort,  even  luxury,  visible 
in  its  numerous  population.  It  far  surpassed  all  they 

*>  Peel.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  407. — Garcilasso, 
Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  7,  cap.  10. — Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


502  CONQUEST   OJ-    PER  I'. 

had  yet  seen  in  the  New  World.  The  population  of 
the  city  is  computed  by  one  of  the  Conquerors  at  two 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  and  that  of  the  suburbs 
at  as  many  more.30  This  account  is  not  confirmed,  as 
far  as  I  have  seen,  by  any  other  writer.  But,  however 
it  may  be  exaggerated,  it  is  certain  that  Cu/co  was  the 
metropolis  of  a  great  empire,  the  residence  of  the 
court  and  the  chief  nobility ;  frequented  by  the  most 
skilful  mechanics  and  artisans  of  every  description, 
who  found  a  demand  for  their  ingenuity  in  the  royal 
precincts ;  while  the  place  was  garrisoned  by  a  numer- 
ous soldiery,  and  was  the  resort,  finally,  of  emigrants 
from  the  most  distant  provinces.  The  quarters  whence 
this  motley  population  came  were  indicated  by  their 
peculiar  dress,  and  especially  their  head-gear,  so  rarely 
found  at  all  on  the  American  Indian,  which,  with  its 
variegated  colors,  gave  a  picturesque  effect  to  the 
groups  and  masses  in  the  streets.  The  habitual  order 
and  decorum  maintained  in  this  multifarious  assembly 

3°  "  Esta  ciudad  era  muy  grande  i  mui  populosa  de  grandes  edificios 
i  comarcas,  quando  los  Espafioles  entraron  la  primera  vez  en  ella 
havia  gran  cantidad  de  gente,  seria  pueblo  de  mas  de  40  mill,  vecinos 
solamente  lo  que  tomaba  la  ciudad,  que  arravalles  i  comarca  en  dere- 
dor  del  Cuzco  d  10  6  12  leguas  creo  yo  que  havia  docientos  mill.  In- 
dios,  porque  esto  era  lo  mas  poblado  de  todos  estos  reinos."  (Conq. 
i  Fob.  del  Piru.  MS.)  The  vecino  or  "householder"  is  computed, 
usually,  as  representing  five  individuals. — Yet  Father  Valverde,  in  a 
letter  written  a  few  years  after  this,  speaks  of  the  city  as  having  only 
three  or  four  thousand  houses  at  the  time  of  its  occupation,  ^nd  the 
suburbs  as  having  nineteen  or  twenty  thousand.  (Carta  al  Empera- 
dor,  MS.,  ao  de  Marzo,  1539.)  It  is  possible  that  he  took  into  the 
account  only  the  better  kind  of  houses,  not  considering  the  mud  huts, 
or  rather  hovels,  which  made  so  large  a  part  of  a  Peruvian  town,  as 
deserving  notice. 


DESCRIPTION   OF    THE  CITY.  503 

showed  the  excellent  police  of  the  capital,  where  the 
only  sounds  that  disturbed  the  repose  of  the  Spaniards 
were  the  noises  of  feasting  and  dancing,  which  the 
natives,  with  happy  insensibility,  constantly  prolonged 
to  a  late  hour  of  the  night.31 

The  edifices  of  the  better  sort— and  they  were 
very  numerous — were  of  stone,  or  faced  with  stone.32 
Among  the  principal  were  the  royal  residences;  as 
each  sovereign  built  a  new  palace  for  himself,  cover- 
ing, though  low,  a  large  extent  of  ground.  The  walls 
were  sometimes  stained  or  painted  with  gaudy  tints, 
and  the  gates,  we  are  assured,  were  sometimes  of  col- 
ored marble."  "In  the  delicacy  of  the  stone-work," 
says  another  of  the  Conquerors,  "  the  natives  far  ex- 
celled the  Spaniards,  though  the  roofs  of  their  dwell- 
ings, instead  of  tiles,  were  only  of  thatch,  but  put 
together  with  the  nicest  art."34  The  sunny  climate 

y  "  Heran  tantos  los  atambores  que  de  noche  se  oian  por  todas 
paries  bailando  y  cantando  y  bebiendo  que  toda  la  mayor  partedela 
noche  se  les  pasava  en  esto  cotidianamente."  Pedro  Pizarro,  De- 
scub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 

3*  "  La  maggior  parte  di  queste  case  sono  di  pietra,  et  1'altre  hano 
la  meta  della  facciata  di  pietra."  Ped.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio, 
torn.  iii.  fol.  413. 

33  "  Che  sono  le  principal!  della  citt&  dipinte  et  lauorate,  et  di  pietra : 
et  la  migiior  d'esse  e  la  casa  di  Guainacaba  Cacique  vecchio,  et  la  porta 
d'essa  e  di  marmo  bianco  et  rosso,  et  d'altri  colori."     (Ibid.,  ubi  su- 
pra.)  The  buildings  were  usually  of  freestone.     There  may  have  been 
porphyry  from  the  neighboring  mountains  mixed  with  this,  which  the 
Spaniards  mistook  for  marble. 

34  ••  Todo  labrado  de  piedra  muy  prima,  que  cierto  toda  la  canteria 
desta  cibdad  hace  gran  ventaja  d  la  de  Espana,  aunque  carecen  de  teja 
que  todas  las  casas  sino  es  la  fortaleza,  que  era  hecha  de  azoteas,  son 
cubiertas  de  paja,  aunque  tan  primamente  puesta,  que  parece  bien." 
Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 


504  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

of  Cuzco  did  not  require  a  very  substantial  material 
for  defence  against  the  weather. 

The  most  important  building  was  the  fortress,  planted 
on  a  sohd  rock  that  rose  boldly  above  the  city.  It 
was  built  of  hewn  stone,  so  finely  wrought  that  it  was 
impossible  to  detect  the  line  of  junction  between  the 
blocks ;  and  the  approaches  to  it  were  defended  by 
three  semicircular  parapets,  composed  of  such  heavy 
masses  of  rock  that  it  bore  resemblance  to  the  kind  of 
work  known  to  architects  as  the  Cyclopean.*  The  fort- 
ress was  raised  to  a  height  rare  in  Peruvian  architec- 
ture ;  and  from  the  summit  of  the  tower  the  eye  of  the 
spectator  ranged  over  a  magnificent  prospect,  in  which 
the  wild  features  of  the  mountain-scenery,  rocks,  woods, 
and  waterfalls,  were  mingled  with  the  rich  verdure  of 
the  valley,  and  the  shining  city  filling  up  the  foreground, 
— all  blended  in  sweet  harmony  under  the  deep  azure 
of  a  tropical  sky. 

The  streets  were  long  and  narrow.  They  were  ar- 
ranged with  perfect  regularity,  crossing  one  another  at 
right  angles ;  and  from  the  great  square  diverged  four 
principal  streets  connecting  with  the  high-roads  of  the 
empire.  The  square  itself,  and  many  parts  of  the  city, 
were  paved  with  a  fine  pebble.35  Through  the  heart  of 

35  Red.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii..  ubi  supra. — A  passage 
in  the  Letter  of  the  Municipality  of  Xauxa  is  worth  quoting,  as  con- 
firming on  the  best  authority  some  of  the  interesting  particulars  men- 


*  [Mr.  Markham,  who  examined  the  ruins  in  1853.  'ias  given  a 
minute  description  of  this  "gigantic  treble  line  of  Cyclopean  fortifi- 
cation," which,  he  says,  "  must  fill  the  mind  of  every  traveller  with 
astonishment  and  admiration."  Translation  of  Cieza  de  Leon,  p. 
325,  note.— ED.] 


DESCRIPTION    OF    THE   CITY.  505 

the  capital  ran  a  river  of  pure  water,  if  it  might  not  be 
rather  termed  a  canal,  the  banks  or  sides  of  which,  for 
the  distance  of  twenty  leagues,  were  faced  with  stone.36 
Across  this  stream,  bridges,  constructed  of  similar  broad 
flags,  were  thrown  at  intervals,  so  as  to  afford  an  easy 
communication  between  the  different  quarters  of  the 
capital.37 

The  most  sumptuous  edifice  in  Cuzco  in  the  times 
of  the  Incas  was  undoubtedly  the  great  temple  dedi- 
cated to  the  Sun,  which,  studded  with  gold  plates,  as 
already  noticed,  was  surrounded  by  convents  and  dor- 
mitories for  the  priests,  with  their  gardens  and  broad 
parterres  sparkling  with  gold.  The  exterior  ornaments 
had  been  already  removed  by  the  Conquerors, — all  but 
the  frieze  of  gold,  which,  imbedded  in  the  stones,  still 
encircled  the  principal  building.  It  is  probable  that 
tioned  in  the  text :  "  Esta  cibdad  es  la  mejor  e  maior  que  en  la  tierra 
se  ha  visto,  i  aun  en  Yndias ;  e  decimos  a  V.  M.  ques  tan  hermosa  i 
de  tan  buenos  edeficios  que  en  Espafia  seria  muy  de  ver ;  tiene  las 
calles  por  mucho  concierto  en  pedradas  i  por  medio  dellas  un  cano 
enlosado,  la  plaza  es  hecha  en  cuadra  i  empedrada  de  quijas  pequenas 
todas,  todas  las  mas  de  las  casas  son  de  Senores  Principales  hechas  de 
canteria,  esta  en  una  ladera  de  un  zerro  en  el  cual  sobre  el  pueblo 
esta  una  fortaleza  mui  bien  obrada  de  canteria,  tan  de  ver  que  por 
Espaftoles  que  han  andado  Reinos  estranos  dicen  no  haver  visto  otro 
edeficio  igual  al  della."  Carta  de  la  Just,  y  Reg.  de  Xauja,  MS.  ' 

*  "  Un  rio,  el  cual  baja  por  medio  de  la  cibdad  y  desde  que  nace, 
mas  de  veinte  leguas  por  aquel  valle  abajo  donde  hay  muchas  pobla- 
ciones.  va  enlosado  todo  por  el  suelo.  y  las  varrancas  de  una  parte  y 
de  otra  hechas  de  canteria  labrada,  cosa  nunca  vista,  ni  oida."  Rela- 
cion  del  primer  Descub..  MS. 

37  The  reader  will  find  a  few  repetitions  in  this  chapter  of  what  I 
have  already  said,  in  the  Introduction,  of  Cuzco  under  the  Incas.  But 
the  facts  here  stated  are  for  the  most  part  drawn  from  other  sources, 
and  some  repetition  was  unavoidable  in  order  to  give  a  distinct  image 
of  the  capital. 

Peru.-r-VoL.  I.— w          43 


506  co.YQCEsr  or  PERT. 

the  tales  of  wealth  so  greedily  circulated  among  the 
Spaniards  greatly  exceeded  the  truth.  If  they  did  not, 
the  natives  must  have  been  very  successful  in  conceal- 
ing their  treasures  from  the  invaders.  Yet  much  still 
remained,  not  only  in  the  great  House  of  the  Sun,  but 
in  the  inferior  temples  which  swarmed  in  the  capital. 

Pizarro,  on  entering  Cuzco,  had  issued  an  order  for- 
bidding any  soldier  to  offer  violence  to  the  dwellings 
of  the  inhabitants.38  But  the  palaces  were  numerous, 
and  the  troops  lost  no  time  in  plundering  them  of  their 
contents,  as  well  as  in  despoiling  the  religious  edifices. 
The  interior  decorations  supplied  them  with  considera- 
ble booty.  They  stripped  off  the  jewels  and  rich  orna- 
ments that  garnished  the  royal  mummies  in  the  temple 
of  Coricancha.  Indignant  at  the  concealment  of  their 
treasures,  they  put  the  inhabitants,  in  sonic  instances, 
to  the  torture,  and  endeavored  to  extort  from  them  a 
confession  of  their  hiding-places.39  They  invaded  the 
repose  of  the  sepulchres,  in  which  the  Peruvians  often 
deposited  their  valuable  effects,  and  compelled  the 
grave  to  give  up  its  dead.  No  place  was  left  unexplored 
by  the  rapacious  Conquerors ;  and  they  occasionally 
stumbled  on  a  mine  of  wealth  that  rewarded  their  labors. 

In  a  cavern  near  the  city  they  found  a  number  of 
vases  of  pure  gold,  richly  embossed  with  the  figures  of 
serpents,  locusts,  and  other  animals.  Among  the  spoil 
were  four  golden  llamas  and  ten  or  twelve  statues  of 
women,  some  of  gold,  others  of  silver,  "  which  merely 

3s  "  Pues  mando  el  marquez  dar  vn  pregon  que  ningun  espanol  fuese 
&  entrar  en  las  casas  de  los  naturales  6  tomalles  nada."  Pedro  Pizarro. 
Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 

w  Gomara,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  cap.  123. 


TREASURE    FOUND    THERE.  507 

to  see,"  says  one  of  the  Conquerors,  with  some  naivete, 
' '  was  truly  a  great  satisfaction. ' '  The  gold  was  proba- 
bly thin,  for  the  figures  were  all  as  large  as  life;  and 
several  of  them,  being  reserved  for  the  royal  fifth,  were 
not  recast,  but  sent  in  their  original  form  to  Spain.40 
The  magazines  were  stored  with  curious  commodities; 
richly-tinted  robes  of  cotton  and  feather-work,  gold 
sandals,  and  slippers  of  the  same  material,  for  the 
women,  and  dresses  composed  entirely  of  beads  of 
gold.41  The  grain  and  other  articles  of  food,  with 
which  the  magazines  were  filled,  were  held  in  contempt 
by  the  Conquerors,  intent  only  on  gratifying  their  lust 
for  gold.43  The  time  came  when  the  grain  would  have 
been  of  far  more  value. 

Yet  the  amount  of  treasure  in  the  capital  did  not 
equal  the  sanguine  expectations  that  had  been  formed 
by  the  Spaniards.  But  the  deficiency  was  supplied  by 
the  plunder  which  they  had  collected  at  various  places 
on  their  march.  In  one  place,  for  example,  they  met 
with  ten  planks  or  bars  of  solid  silver,  each  piece  being 

*>  "  Et  fra  1'altre  cose  singolari,  era  veder  quattro  castrati  di  fin  oro 
molto  grandi,  et  10  6  12  statue  di  done,  della  grandezza  delle  dSne  di 
quel  paese  tutte  d'oro  fino,  cosi  belle  et  ben  fatte  come  se  fossero  viue. 
.  .  .  Queste  furono  date  nel  quinto  che  toccaua  aS.  M."  (Fed.  San- 
cho,  Rel..  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  409.)  "  Muchas  estatuas  y  figu- 
ras  de  oro  y  plata  enteras,  hecha  la  forma  toda  de  una  muger,  y  del 
tamano  della,  muy  bien  labradas."  Relacion  del  primer  Descub.,  MS. 

<«  "  Aviaansi  mismo  otras  muchas  plumas  de  diferentes  colores  para 
este  efecto  de  hacer  rropas  que  vestian  los  senores  y  senoras  y  no  otro 
en  los  tiempos  de  sus  fiestas,  avia  tambien  manias  hechas  de  chaquira, 
de  oro,  y  de  plata,  que  heran  vnas  quentecitas  muy  delicadas,  que 
parecia  cosa  de  espanto  ver  su  hechura."  Pedro  Pizarro,  Descub.  y 
Conq.,  MS. 

4=  Ondegardo,  Rel.  Prim.,  MS. 


508  CONQUEST   OF   PERU. 

twenty  feet  in  length,  one  foot  in  breadth,  and  two  or 
three  inches  thick.  They  were  intended  to  decorate 
the  dwelling  of  an  Inca  noble.43 

The  whole  mass  of  treasure  was  brought  into  a  com- 
mon heap,  as  in  Caxamalca ;  and,  after  some  of  the 
finer  specimens  had  been  deducted  for  the  crown,  the 
remainder  was  delivered  to  the  Indian  goldsmiths  to 
be  melted  down  into  ingots  of  a  uniform  standard. 
The  division  of  the  spoil  was  made  on  the  same  princi- 
ple as  before.  There  were  four  hundred  and  eighty 
soldiers,  including  the  garrison  of  Xauxa,  who  were 
each  to  receive  a  share,  that  of  the  cavalry  being 
double  that  of  the  infantry.  The  amount  of  booty  is 
stated  variously  by  those  present  at  the  division  of  it. 
According  to  some,  it  considerably  exceeded  the  ransom 
of  Atahuallpa.  Others  state  it  as  less.  Pedro  Pizarro 
says  that  each  horseman  got  six  thousand  pesos  de  oro, 
and  each  one  of  the  infantry  half  that  surrt;44  though 
the  same  discrimination  was  made  by  Pizarro  as  before, 
mj respect  to  the  rank  of  the  parties,  and  their  relative 
services.  But  Sancho,  the  royal  notary,  and  secretary 
of  the  commander,  estimates  the  whole  amount  as  far 
less, — not  exceeding  five  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
and  two  hundred  pesos  de  oro,  and  two  hundred  and 
fifteen  thousand  marks  of  silver.45  In  the  absence  of 

«  "  Pues  andando  yo  buscando  mahiz  6  otras  cosas  para  comer, 
acaso  entre  en  vn  buhio  donde  halle  estos  tablones  de  plata  que  tengo 
dicho  que  heran  hasta  diez  y  de  largo  tenian  veinte  pies  y  de  anchor 
ile  vno  y  de  gordor  de  tres  dedos,  di  noticia  dello  al  marquez  y  el  y 
todos  los  demas  que  con  el  estavan  entraron  d  vello."  Pedro  Pizarro, 
Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 

44  Descub.  y  Conq.,  MS. 

45  Ped.  Sancho,  Rel.,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  409. 


TKKASL-KE    FOUND    THERE.  5og 

the  official  returns,  it  is  impossible  to  determine  which 
is  correct.  But  Sancho's  narrative  is  countersigned, 
it  may  be  remembered,  by  Pizarro  and  the  royal  treas- 
urer Riquelme,  and  doubtless,  therefore,  shows  the 
actual  amount  for  which  the  Conquerors  accounted  to 
the  crown. 

Whichever  statement  we  receive,  the  sum,  combined 
with  that  obtained  at  Caxamalca,  might  well  have  sat- 
isfied the  cravings  of  the  most  avaricious.  The  sud- 
den influx  of  so  much  wealth,  and  that,  too,  in  so 
transferable  a  form,  among  a  party  of  reckless  adven- 
turers little  accustomed  to  the  possession  of  money, 
had  its  natural  effect.  It  supplied  them  with  the  means 
of  gaming,  so  strong  and  common  a  passion  with  the 
Spaniards  that  it  may  be  considered  a  national  vice. 
Fortunes  were  lost  and  won  in  a  single  day,  sufficient 
to  render  the  proprietors  independent  for  life ; .  and 
many  a  desperate  gamester,  by  an  unlucky  throw  of 
the  dice  or  turn  of  the  cards,  saw  himself  stripped  in 
a  few  hours  of  the  fruits  of  years  of  toil  and  obliged 
to  begin  over  again  the  business  of  rapine.  Among 
these,  one  in  the  cavalry  service  is  mentioned,  named 
Leguizano,*  who  had  received  as  his  share  of  the  booty 
the  image  of  the  Sun,  which,  raised  on  a  plate  of 
burnished  gold,  spread  over  the  walls  in  a  recess  of  the 

*  [Or  Lejesema, — the  same  person  whose  will  is  referred  to  in  Book  I. 
chap.  5,  note  37,  and  printed  in  Appendix  No.  4.  According  to  Gar- 
cilasso,  he  had  been  "  a  great  gambler,"  but  his  loss  on  the  present 
occasion  proved  his  salvation,  as  he  "  hated  play  ever  afterwards,"  and 
devoted  himself  with  zeal  and  diligence  to  the  public  service.  He 
held  several  offices,  married  an  Inca  princess,  took  part  in  the  civil 
wars, — generally  on  the  winning  side, — and  survived  all  his  old  com- 
panions in  arms. — ED.] 

43* 


5io  CONQUEST   OF  PERU. 

great  temple,  and  which,  for  some  reason  or  other, — 
j>erhaps  because  of  its  superior  fineness, — was  not  ic- 
cast  like  the  other  ornaments.  This  rich  prize  the 
spendthrift  lost  in  a  single  night ;  whence  it  came  to 
be  a  proverb  in  Spain,  Juega  el  Sol  antes  <jne  amanfzca, 
"  He  plays  away  the  Sun  before  sunrise."  ** 
•  The  effect  of  such  a  surfeit  of  the  precious  metals 
was  instantly  felt  on  prices.  The  most  ordinary  arti- 
cles were  only  to  be  had  for  exorbitant  sums.  A 
quire  of  paper  was  sold  for  ten  pesos  de  oro ;  a  bottle 
of  wine,  for  sixty  ;  a  sword,  for  forty  or  fifty  ;  a  cloak, 
for  a  hundred, — sometimes  more  ;  a  pair  of  shoes  cost 
thirty  or  forty  pesos  de  oro,  and  a  good  horse  could 
not  be  had  for  less  than  twenty-five  hundred.47  Some 
brought  a  still  higher  price.  Every  article  rose  in 
value,  as  gold  and  silver,  the  representatives  of  all, 
declined.  Gold  and  silver,  in  short,  seemed  to  be  the 
only  things  in  Cuzco  that  were  not  wealth.  Yet  there 
were  some  few  wise  enough  to  return  contented  with 
their  present  gains  to  their  native  country.  Here  their 
riches  brought  them  consideration  and  competence, 
and,  while  they  excited  the  envy  of  their  countrymen, 
stimulated  them  to  seek  their  own  fortunes  in  the  likfc 
path  of  adventure. 

<*  Garcilasso,  Com.  Real.,  Parte  i,  lib.  3,  cap.  20. 
«7  Xerez,  Conq.  del  Peru,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  iii.  p.  233. 


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